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■s$*  c 


a 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/evolutionofempir00parm_0 


THE 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE 


A BRIEF  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF 

FRAME 


BY 

MARY  PARMELE 

Author  of  11  Evolution  of  Empire  Series,  Germany ; ” 
“ Who  ? When  f What  f Literature  Chart.  ” 


SECOND  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON, 

3.  & 5 West  18th  Street 
1897 


Published  and  Copyrighted,  1894, 


BY 

WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  H ARISON, 

3 & 5 West  18th  St.,  New  York  City. 


ELECTROTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY 
THE  PUBLISHERS’  PRINTING  COMPANY 
182-130  WEST  14TH  STREET 
NEW  YORK 


444 

?2-V 


PREFACE. 

In  an  attempt  to  tell  the  story  of  a great 
nation  in  about  100  pages,  it  is  needless  to 
say  there  must  be  a rigid  exclusion  of  all 
save  essential  facts.  To  those  already  famil- 
iar with  the  subject,  this  sketch  is  offered 
merely  as  a reminder  of  the  sequence  of 
conditions  and  events  in  xhe  evolution  of 
France ; while  to  the  student  it  is  presented 
as  a framework  upon  which  may  be  placed, 
in  orderly  and  comprehensible  fashion,  the 
results  of  future  reading  and  research. 

To  the  latter  class  I would  suggest  that 
a series  of  papers,  written  upon  the  most 
prominent  themes  found  in  the  Table  of 
Contents,  will  hear  fruit  in  knowledge  more 
real  and  vital  than  may  be  obtained  from 
the  writings  of  others,  however  eloquent 
and  vivid  the  presentation. 

M.  P. 

New  York,  July  23d,  1894. 


703116 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. 


PAGE 


The  Aryan  Family  of  Nations — Keltic  Race — An- 
cient Gaul — Gauls  in  Rome— Gauls  in  Greece 
and  in  Asia  Minor 9 


Chapter  II. 

Roman  Conquest  of  Gaul — Julius  Caesar 18 

Chapter  III. 

Birth  of  Christianity — Its  Dissemination — Persecu- 
tion at  Lyons  by  order  of  Marcus  Aurelius — The 
Roman  Empire  Espouses  Christianity  under 
Constantine 22 


Chapter  IV. 

Gaul  Overrun  and  Subjugated  by  Franks — Clovis 
King — Decay  of  the  Merovingian  Line — Maire 
du  Palais  King  de  facto — Charles  Martel — Birth 
of  Mohammedanism — Its  Triumphs — Christen- 
dom Threatened — Pepin  King — Charlemagne — 
Alliance  with  Pope — France,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many Emerge  as  Separate  Nationalities 30 


6 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  V. 

PAGE 

The  Northmen— Beginnings  of  Feudalism  in  France 
— Normandy  Bestowed  upon  the  Northmen — 
Conquest  of  England  by  William,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy— Albigenses — Inquisition  at  Toulouse — 

The  Crusades 39 

Chapter  VI. 

Decline  of  Feudalism — Creation  of  the  Commune — 
Charles  VII. — Henry  V.  in  France — Joan  of 
Arc 47 

Chapter  VII. 

Francis  I.  — Huguenots — Catharine  de  Medici — 
Francis  II 54 

Chapter  VIII. 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew — Henry  III. — Henry 
IV 62 

Chapter  IX. 

Edict  of  Nantes— Louis  XIII.— Richelieu 71 

Chapter  X. 

Louis  XIV. — Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes — 
Louis  XV. — Age  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau — The 
Gathering  Storm 77 


CONTENTS. 


7 


Chapter  XI. 

PAGE 

Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette — American  Col- 
onies Arrayed  Against  England — French  Aid  to 
America— Smouldering  Fires  of  Discontent — 
Louis  Convokes  States-General — National  As- 
sembly Created  by  Commons — Bastille  Attacked 
— Revolution — Execution  of  King 87 

Chapter  XII. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte — Toulon — Campaign  in  Italy — 
Empire  Established — Europe  Under  the  Feet  of 
the  Great  Corsican— Marie  Louise — Waterloo — 
Louis  XVIII. — Charles  X.— Louis  Philippe- 
Second  Republic — Louis  Napoleon  President — 
Second  Empire — Napoleon  III. — Franco-Prus- 
sian  War — Sedan — Third  Republic — Review  of 
Present  Conditions 97 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

One  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  mod- 
ern research  is  the  discovery  of  a key  by 
which  we  may  determine  the  kinship  of  na- 
tions. What  we  used  to  conjecture,  we  now 
know.  An  identity  in  the  structural  form 
of  language  establishes  with  scientific  certi- 
tude that  however  diverse  their  character 
and  civilizations,  Eussian,  German,  English, 
French,  Spaniard,  are  all  but  branches  from 
the  same  parent  stem,  are  all  alike  children 
of  the  Asiatic  Aryan. 

So  skilful  are  modern  methods  of  ques- 
tioning the  past,  and  so  determined  the  effort 
to  find  out  its  secrets,  we  may  yet  know  the 
origin  and  history  of  this  wonderful  Asiatic 
people,  and  when  and  why  they  left  their 
native  continent  and  colonized  upon  the 


10 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


northern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  however,  that,  more  centuries  be- 
fore the  Christian  era  than  there  have  been 
since,  they  had  peopled  Western  Europe. 

This  branch  of  the  Aryan  family  is  known 
as  the  Keltic,  and  was  older  brother  to  the 
Teuton  and  Slav,  which  at  a much  later 
period  followed  them  from  the  ancestral 
home,  and  appropriated  the  middle  and  east- 
ern portions  of  the  European  Continent. 

The  name  of  Gaul  was  given  to  the  ter- 
ritory lying  between  the  Ocean  and  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  Pyrenees  and  the 
Alps.  And  at  a later  period  a portion  of 
Northern  Gaul,  and  the  islands  lying  north 
of  it,  received  from  an  invading  chieftain 
and  his  tribe  the  name  Brit  or  Britain  (or 
Pryd  or  Prydain). 

If  the  mind  could  be  carried  back  on  the 
track  of  time,  and  we  could  see  what  we 
now  call  France  as  it  existed  twenty  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  we  should 
behold  the  same  natural  features : the  same 
mountains  rearing  their  heads;  the  same 
rivers  flowing  to  the  sea;  the  same  plains 
stretching  out  in  the  sunlight.  But  instead 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


11 


of  vines  and  flowers  and  cultivated  fields  we 
should  behold  great  herds  of  wild  ox  and 
elk,  and  of  swine  as  fierce  as  wolves,  rang- 
ing in  a climate  as  cold  as  Norway;  and 
vast  inaccessible  forests,  the  home  of  beasts 
of  prey,  which  contended  with  man  for 
food  and  shelter. 

Let  us  read  Guizot’s  description  of  life  in 
Gaul  five  centuries  before  Christ : 

“ Here  lived  six  or  seven  millions  of  men 
a bestial  life,  in  dwellings  dark  and  low, 
built  of  wood  and  clay  and  covered  with 
branches  or  straw,  open  to  daylight  by  the 
door  alone  and  confusedly  heaped  together 
behind  a rampart  of  timber,  earth,  and 
stone,  which  enclosed  and  protected  what 
they  were  pleased  to  call — a town” 

Such  was  the  Paris,  and  such  the  French- 
men of  the  age  of  Pericles ! And  the  same 
tides  that  washed  the  sands  of  Southern 
Gaul,  a few  hours  later  ebbed  and  flowed 
upon  the  shores  of  Greece — rich  in  culture, 
with  refinements  and  subtleties  in  art  which 
are  the  despair  of  the  world  to-day — with 
an  intellectual  endowment  never  since  at- 
tained by  any  people. 


12 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


The  same  sun  which  rose  upon  temples 
and  palaces  and  life  serene  and  beautiful  in 
Greece,  an  hour  later  lighted  sacrificial  altars 
and  hideous  orgies  in  the  forests  of  Gaul. 
While  the  Gaul  was  nailing  the  heads  of 
human  victims  to  his  door,  or  hanging 
them  from  the  bridle  of  his  horse,  or  burn- 
ing or  flogging  his  prisoners  to  death,  the 
Greek,  with  a literature,  an  art,  and  a civil- 
ization in  ripest  perfection,  discussed  with 
his  friends  the  deepest  problems  of  life  and 
destiny,  which  were  then  baffling  human 
intelligence,  even  as  they  are  with  us  to- 
day. Truly  we  of  Keltic  and  Teuton  de- 
scent are  late-comers  upon  the  stage  of 
national  life. 

There  was  no  promise  of  greatness  in  an- 
cient Gaul.  It  was  a great  unregulated  force, 
rushing  hither  and  thither.  Impelled  by 
insatiate  greed  for  the  possessions  of  their 
neighbors,  there  was  no  permanence  in  their 
loves  or  their  hatreds.  The  enemies  of  to- 
day were  the  allies  of  to-morrow.  Guided 
entirely  by  the  fleeting  desires  and  passions 
of  the  moment,  with  no  far-reaching  plans 
to  restrain,  the  sixty  or  more  tribes  compos- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


13 


ing  the  Gallic  people  were  in  perpetual  state 
of  feud  and  anarchy,  apparently  insensible 
to  the  ties  of  brotherhood,  which  give  con- 
cert of  action,  and  stability  in  form  of  na- 
tional life.  If  they  overran  a neighboring 
country,  it  seemed  not  so  much  for  perma- 
nent acquisition,  as  to  make  it  a camping- 
ground  until  its  resources  were  exhausted. 

We  read  of  one  Massillia  who  came  with 
a colony  of  Greeks  long  ages  ago,  and  after 
founding  the  city  of  Marseilles,  created  a 
narrow  bright  border  of  Greek  civilization 
along  the  Southern  edge  of  the  benighted 
land.  It  was  a brief  illumination,  lasting 
only  a century  or  more,  and  leaving  few 
traces ; but  it  may  account  for  the  superior 
intellectual  quality  of  the  southern  pro- 
vinces in  future  France. 

It  requires  a vast  extent  of  territory  to 
sustain  a people  living  by  the  chase,  and 
upon  herds  and  flocks ; hence  the  area  which 
now  amply  maintains  thirty-five  millions  of 
Frenchmen  was  all  too  small  for  six  or  seven 
million  Gauls;  and  they  were  in  perpetual 
struggle  with  their  neighbors  for  land — 
more  land. 


14 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


“Give  us  land,”  they  said  to  the  Ro- 
mans, and  when  land  was  denied  them  and 
the  gates  of  cities  disdainfully  closed  upon 
their  messengers,  not  land,  but  vengeance, 
was  their  cry;  and  hordes  of  half-naked 
barbarians  trampled  down  the  vineyards, 
and  rushed,  a tumultuous  torrent,  upon 
Rome. 

The  Romans  could  not  stand  before  this 
new  and  strange  kind  of  warfare.  The 
Gauls  streamed  over  the  vanquished  legions 
into  the  Eternal  City,  silent  and  deserted 
save  only  by  the  Senate  and  a few  who  re- 
mained intrenched  in  the  Citadel ; and  there 
the  barbarians  kept  them  besieged  for  seven 
months,  while  they  made  themselves  at 
home  amid  uncomprehended  luxuries. 

Of  course  Roman  skill  and  courage  at  last 
dislodged  and  drove  them  back.  But  the 
fact  remained  that  the  Gaul  had  been  there, 
— master  of  Rome ; that  the  ironclad  legions 
had  been  no  match  for  his  naked  force,  and 
a new  sensation  thrilled  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  Gaul.  It  was  the  first  throb 
of  national  life.  The  sixty  or  more  frag- 
ments drew  closer  together  into  something 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


15 


like  Gallic  unity — with  a common  danger  to 
meet,  a common  foe  to  drive  back. 

Hereafter  there  was  another  hunger  to  be 
appeased  besides  that  for  food  and  land ; a 
hunger  for  conquest,  for  vengeance,  and  for 
glory  for  the  Gallic  name.  National  pride 
was  born. 

For  years  they  hovered  like  wolves  about 
Rome.  But  skill  and  superior  intelligence 
tell  in  the  centuries.  It  took  long — and  cost 
no  end  of  blood  and  treasure ; but  two  hun- 
dred years  from  the  capture  of  Rome,  the 
Gauls  were  driven  out  of  Italy,  and  the  Alps 
pronounced  a barrier  set  by  Nature  herself 
against  barbarian  encroachments. 

Italy  was  not  the  only  country  suffering 
from  the  destroying  footsteps  of  the  West- 
ern Kelts.  There  had  been  long  ago  an  over- 
flow of  a tribe  in  Northern  Gaul  (the  Kym- 
rians),  which  had  hewed  and  plundered  its 
way  south  and  eastward ; until  at  the  time 
of  Alexander  (340  B.c.)  it  was  knocking  at 
the  gates  of  Macedonia. 

Stimulated  by  the  success  at  Rome  fifty 
years  earlier,  they  were,  with  fresh  inso- 
lence, demanding  “land,”  and  during  the 


16 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


centuries  which  followed,  the  Gallic  name 
acquired  no  fresh  lustre  in  Greece.  Half- 
naked,  gross,  ferocious  and  ignorant,  some- 
times allies,  but  always  a scourge,  they 
finally  crossed  the  Hellespont  (278  b.c.),  and 
turned  their  attention  to  Asia  Minor.  And 
there,  at  last,  we  find  them  settled  in  a prov- 
ince called  Gallicia,  where  they  lived  with- 
out amalgamating  with  the  people  about 
them;  it  is  said,  even  as  late  as  400  years 
after  Christ,  speaking  the  language  of  their 
tribal  home  (what  is  now  Belgium).  And 
these  were  the  Galatians — the  “ foolish  Gala- 
tians,” to  whom  Paul  addressed  his  epistle; 
and  we  have  followed  up  this  Gallic  thread 
simply  because  it  mingles  with  the  larger 
strand  of  ancient  and  sacred  history  with 
which  we  are  all  so  familiar. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Roman  courage  and 
endurance  became  a by-word.  Her  fibre  was 
toughened  by  perpetual  strain  of  conflict. 
Even  while  she  was  struggling  with  Gaul  and 
while  the  echoes  of  the  Hunnish  invasion 
were  still  resounding  through  the  Continent, 
Hannibal,  with  his  hosts,  was  pouring 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


17 


through  Gaul  and  gathering  accessions  from 
that  people  as  he  swept  down  into  Italy. 
Then,  with  the  memories  of  the  Carthagenian 
wars  still  fresh  at  Rome,  the  Goths  were  at 
her  gates, — their  blows  directed  with  a solid- 
ity superior  to  that  of  the  barbarians  who 
had  preceded  them.  Where  the  Gauls  had 
knocked,  the  Goths  thundered. 

Again  the  city  was  invaded  by  barbarian 
feet,  and  again  did  superior  training  and  in- 
telligence drive  back  the  invading  torrent 
and  triumph  over  native  brute  force. 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  was  the  condition 
of  the  centuries  just  before  the  Christian 
era. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  making  of  a nation  is  not  unlike 
bread  or  cake  making.  One  element  is  used 
as  the  basis,  to  which  are  added  other  com- 
ponent parts,  of  varying  qualities,  and  the 
result  we  call  England,  or  Germany,  or 
France.  The  steps  by  which  it  is  accom- 
plished, the  blending  and  fusing  of  the  ele- 
ments, require  centuries,  and  the  process 
makes  what  we  call — history. 

It  was  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that 
Gaul  should  become  a great  nation ; but  not 
until  fused  and  interpenetrated  with  two 
other  nationalities.  She  must  first  be  hu- 
manized and  civilized  by  the  Roman,  and 
then  energized  and  made  free  from  the  Ro- 
man by  the  Teuton. 

The  instrument  chosen  for  the  former 
was  Julius  Caesar,  and  for  the  latter — five 
centuries  later — Clovis,  the  Frankish  leader. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


19 


It  is  safe  to  affirm  that  no  man  has  ever 
so  changed  the  course  of  human  events  as 
did  Julius  Caesar.  Napoleon,  who  strove  to 
imitate  him  1800  years  later,  was  a charla- 
tan in  comparison ; a mere  scene-shifter  on 
a great  theatrical  stage.  Not  a trace  of  his 
work  remains  upon  humanity  to-day. 

Caesar  opened  up  a pathway  for  the  old 
civilizations  of  the  world  to  flow  into  West- 
ern Europe,  and  the  sodden  mass  of  barbar- 
ism was  infused  with  a life-compelling  cur- 
rent. This  was  not  accomplished  by  placing 
before  the  inferior  race  a higher  ideal  of  life 
for  imitation,  but  by  a mingling  of  the  blood 
of  the  nations — a transfusion  into  Gallic 
veins  of  the  germs  of  a higher  living  and 
thinking — thus  making  them  heirs  to  the 
great  civilizations  of  antiquity. 

No  human  event  was  ever  fraught  with 
such  consequences  to  the  human  race  as 
the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  Julius  Caesar. 

The  Gallic  wars  had  for  centuries  drained 
the  treasure  and  taxed  the  resources  of 
Rome.  Caesar  conceived  the  audacious  idea 
of  stopping  them  at  their  source — in  fact,  of 
making  Gaul  a Roman  province. 


20 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


It  was  a marvellous  exhibition,  not  sim- 
ply of  force,  but  of  force  wielded  by  supreme 
intelligence  and  craft.  He  had  lived  four 
years  among  this  people  and  knew  their 
sources  of  weakness,  their  internal  jealousies 
and  rivalries,  their  incohesiveness.  When 
they  hurled  themselves  against  Rome,  it 
was  as  a mass  of  sharp  fragments.  When 
the  Goths  did  the  same,  it  was  as  one  solid, 
indivisible  body.  Csesar  saw  that  by  adroit 
management  he  could  disintegrate  this 
people,  even  while  conquering  them. 

By  forcibly  maintaining  in  power  those 
who  submitted  to  him,  being  by  turns  gen- 
tle and  severe,  ingratiating  here,  terrifying 
there,  he  established  a tremendous  personal 
force;  and  during  nine  years  carried  on 
eight  campaigns,  marvels  in  the  art  of  war, 
as  well  as  in  the  subtler  methods  of  negoti- 
ation and  intrigue.  He  had  successively 
dealt  with  all  the  Gallic  tribes,  even  includ- 
ing Great  Britain,  subjugating  either 
through  their  own  rivalries,  or  by  his  invin- 
cible arm. 

Equally  able  to  charm  and  to  terrify,  he 
had  all  the  gifts,  all  the  means  to  success 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


21 


and  empire,  that  can  be  possessed  by  man. 
Great  in  politics  as  in  war,  as  full  of  re- 
source in  the  forum  as  on  the  battle-field, 
he  was  by  nature  called  to  dominion. 

It  was  not  as  a patriot,  simply  intent  upon 
freeing  Rome  of  an  harassing  enemy,  that 
he  endured  those  nine  years  in  Gaul — not 
as  a great  leader  burning  with  military  ar- 
dor that  he  conducted  those  eight  campaigns. 
The  conquest  of  Gaul  meant  the  greater 
conquest  of  Rome.  The  one  was  accom- 
plished; he  now  turned  his  back  upon  the 
devastated  country,  and  prepared  to  com- 
plete his  great  project  of  human  ascendency. 

Rome  was  mistress  of  the  world;  he — 
would  be  master  of  Rome. 


CHAPTER  III. 


While  the  Star  of  Empire  was  thus  mov- 
ing toward  the  West,  another  and  brighter 
star  was  about  to  arise  in  the  East.  So  ac- 
customed are  we  to  the  story,  that  we  lose 
all  sense  of  wonder  at  its  recital. 

Julius  Caesar’s  brief  triumph  was  over. 
Marc  Antony  had  recited  his  virtues  over  his 
bier,  Rome  had'  wept,  and  then  forgotten 
him  in  the  absorbing  splendors  of  his  nephew 
Augustus.  In  an  obscure  village  of  an  ob- 
scure country  in  Asia  Minor,  the  young  wife 
of  a peasant  finds  shelter  in  a stable,  and 
gives  birth  to  a son,  who  is  cradled  in  the 
straw  of  a manger,  from  which  the  cattle 
are  feeding. 

Can  the  mind  conceive  of  human  circum- 
stances more  lowly?  The  child  grew  to  man- 
hood, and  in  his  thirty-three  years  of  life  was 
never  lifted  above  the  obscure  sphere  into 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


23 


which  he  was  born;  never  spoke  from  the 
vantage-ground  of  worldly  elevation, — sim- 
ply moving  among  people  of  his  own  station 
in  life,  mechanics,  fishermen,  and  peasants, 
he  told  of  a religion  of  love,  a gospel  of 
peace,  for  which  he  was  willing  to  die. 

Who  would  have  dreamed  that  this  was 
the  germ  of  the  most  potent,  the  most  re- 
generative force  the  world  had  ever  known  ? 
That  thrones,  empires,  principalities,  and 
powers  would  melt  and  crumble  before  his 
name?  Of  all  miracles,  is  not  this  the  great- 
est? 

The  passionate  ardor  with  which  this  re- 
ligion was  propagated  in  the  first  two  cen- 
turies had  no  motive  but  the  yearning  to 
make  others  share  in  its  benefits  and  hopes ; 
and  to  this  end  to  accept  the  belief  that  Jesus 
Christ  had  come  in  fulfilment  of  a long- 
promised  Saviour, — who  should  be  sent  to 
this  world  clothed  with  divine  authority  to 
establish  a spiritual  kingdom,  in  which  he 
was  King  of  Kings,  Lord  of  Lords,  Mediator 
between  us  and  the  Father,  of  whom  he  was 
the  “only  begotten  Son.” 

The  religion  in  its  essence  was  absolutely 


24 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


simple.  Its  founder  summed  it  up  in  two 
sentences, — expressing  the  duty  of  man  to 
man,  and  of  man  to  God.  That  was  all  the 
Theology  he  formulated. 

For  two  centuries  the  religion  of  Christ 
was  an  elementary  spiritual  force.  It  ap 
pealed  only  to  the  highest  attributes  and 
longings  of  the  human  soul,  and  under  its 
sustaining  influence  frail  women,  men,  and 
even  children  were  able  to  endure  tortures, 
of  which  we  cannot  read  even  now  without 
shuddering  horror. 

Nature’s  method  of  gardening  is  very  beau- 
tiful. She  carefully  guards  the  seed  until 
it  is  ripe,  then  she  bursts  the  imprisoning 
walls  and  gives  it  to  the  winds  to  distribute. 
Precisely  such  method  was  used  in  dissemi- 
nating Christianity.  It  was  not  for  one 
people — it  was  for  the  healing  of  the  nations, 
and  its  home  was  wherever  man  abides. 

Nearly  five  decades  after  Christ’s  death 
upon  the  cross,  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  by 
Titus.  The  home  of  Christianity  was 
effaced.  At  just  the  right  moment  the  en 
closing  walls  had  broken,  and  freed  to  the 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


25 


winds  the  germs  in  all  their  primitive 
purity. 

Imperial  favor  had  not  tarnished  it,  hu- 
man ambitions  had  not  employed  and  de- 
graded it,  nor  had  it  been  made  into  com- 
plex system  by  ingenious  casuists.  The  pure 
spiritual  truth,  unsullied  as  it  came  from 
the  hand  of  its  founder,  was  scattered  broad- 
cast, as  the  band  of  Christians  dispersed 
throughout  the  Roman  Empire,  naturally 
forming  into  communities  here  and  there, 
which  became  the  centres  of  Christian  prop- 
agandism.  Lyons  in  Gaul  was  such  a cen- 
tre. 

The  fires  of  persecution  had  been  lighted 
here  and  there  throughout  the  Empire,  and 
the  Emperor  Nero,  under  whom  the  Apos- 
tles Peter  and  Paul  are  said  to  have  suffered 
martyrdom,  had  amused  himself  by  making 
torches  of  the  Christians  at  Rome.  But  un- 
til 177  a.d.  Gaul  was  exempt  from  such  hor- 
rors. 

Marcus  Aurelius — that  peerless  pagan, — 
large  in  intelligence,  exalted  in  character, 
and  guided  by  a conscientious  rectitude 


26 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


which  has  made  his  name  shine  like  a star 
in  the  lurid  light  of  Roman  history,  still 
failed  utterly  to  comprehend  the  significance 
of  this  spiritual  kingdom  established  by 
Christ  on  earth.  He  it  was  who  ordered 
the  first  persecution  in  Gaul.  In  pursuance 
of  his  command,  horrible  tortures  were  in- 
flicted at  Lyons  upon  those  who  would  not 
abjure  the  new  faith. 

A letter,  written  by  an  eye-witness,  pic- 
tures with  terrible  vividness  the  scenes  which 
followed.  Many  cases  are  described  with 
harrowing  detail,  and  of  one  Blandina  it  is 
said:  “From  morn  till  eve  they  put  her  to 
all  manner  of  torture,  marvelling  that  she 
still  lived  with  her  body  pierced  through  and 
through  and  torn  piecemeal  by  so  many 
tortures  of  which  a single  one  should  have 
sufficed  to  kill  her,  to  which  she  only  replied, 
‘ I am  a Christian.  ’ ” 

The  recital  goes  on  to  tell  how  she  was 
then  cast  into  a dungeon, — her  feet  com- 
pressed and  dragged  out  to  the  utmost  ten- 
sion of  the  muscles, — then  left  alone  in  dark- 
ness, until  new  methods  of  torture  could  be 
devised. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


27 


Finally  she  was  brought,  with  other  Chris- 
tians, into  the  amphitheatre,  hanging  from 
a cross  to  which  she  was  tied,  and  there 
thrown  to  the  beasts.  As  the  beasts  refused 
to  touch  her  she  was  taken  back  to  the  dun- 
geon to  be  reserved  for  another  occasion, 
being  brought  out  daily  to  witness  the  fate 
and  suffering  of  her  friends  and  fellow- 
martyrs;  still  answering  the  oft-repeated 
question — “I  am  a Christian.” 

The  writer  goes  on  to  say,  “ After  she  had 
undergone  fire,  the  talons  of  beasts,  and 
every  agony  which  could  be  thought  of,  she 
was  wrapped  in  a network  and  thrown  to  a 
bull,  who  tossed  her  in  the  air” — and  her 
sufferings  were  ended. 

Truly  it  cost  something  to  say  “I  am  a 
Christian”  in  those  days. 

Marcus  Aurelius  probably  gave  orders  for 
the  persecution  at  Lyons,  with  little  knowl- 
edge of  what  would  be  the  nature  of  those 
persecutions,  or  of  the  religion  he  was  trying 
to  exterminate.  Some  of  the  hours  spent 
in  writing  introspective  essays  would  have 
been  well  employed  in  studying  the  period 
in  which  he  lived,  and  the  Empire  he  ruled. 


28 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Paganism  and  Druidism,  those  twin  mon- 
sters, receded  before  the  advancing  light  of 
Christianity.  Neither  contained  anything 
which  could  nourish  the  soul  of  man,  and 
both  had  become  simply  badges  of  national- 
ity. 

Druidism  was  the  last  stronghold  of  in- 
dependent Gallic  life.  It  was  a mixture  of 
northern  myth  and  oriental  dreams  of  me- 
tempsychosis, coarse,  mystical,  and  cruel. 
The  Roman  paganism  which  was  superim- 
posed by  the  conquering  race  was  the  mere 
shell  of  a once  vital  religion.  Educated  men 
had  long  ceased  to  believe  in  the  gods  and 
divinities  of  Greece,  and  it  is  said  that  the 
Roman  augurs,  while  giving  their  solemn 
prophetic  utterances,  could  not  look  at  each 
other  without  laughing. 

In  the  year  312,  alas  for  Christianity,  it 
was  espoused  by  imperial  power.  When  the 
Emperor  Constantine  declared  himself  a 
Christian,  there  was  no  doubt  rejoicing 
among  the  saints ; but  it  was  the  beginning 
of  the  degeneracy  of  the  religion  of  Christ. 
The  faith  of  the  humble  was  to  be  raised  to 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


29 


a throne;  its  lowly  garb  to  be  exchanged 
for  purple  and  scarlet,  the  gospel  of  peace  to 
be  enforced  by  the  sword. 

The  Empire  was  crumbling,  and  upon  its 
ruins  the  race  of  the  future  and  social  con- 
ditions of  modern  times  were  forming. 
Paganism  and  Druidism  would  have  been  an 
impossibility.  Christianity  even  with  its 
lustre  dimmed,  its  purity  tarnished,  its  sim 
plicity  overlaid  with  scholasticism,  was  bet- 
ter than  these.  The  miracle  had  been  ac- 
complished. The  great  Roman  Empire  had 
said:  “ I am  Christian. ” 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Gaul  had  been  Latinized  and  Christian- 
ized. Now  one  more  thing  was  needed  to 
prepare  her  for  a great  future.  Her  fibre 
was  to  be  toughened  by  the  infusion  of  a 
stronger  race.  Julius  Caesar  had  shaken  her 
into  submission,  and  Rome  had  chastised 
her  into  decency  of  behavior  and  speech,  but 
as  her  manners  improved  her  native  vigor 
declined.  She  took  kindly  to  Roman  luxury 
and  effeminacy,  and  could  no  longer  have 
thundered  at  the  gates  of  her  neighbors  de- 
manding “ land.” 

But  at  last  the  great  Roman  Empire  was 
dying,  and  even  degenerate  Gaul  was  strug- 
gling out  of  her  relaxing  grasp.  In  her  ex- 
tremity she  called  upon  the  Franks,  a pow- 
erful Germanic  race,  to  aid  her.  This  people 
had  long  looked  with  covetous  eyes  at  the 
fair  fields  stretching  beyond  the  Rhine,  and 
lost  no  time  in  accepting  the  invitation. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


31 


They  overspread  the  latid,  and  Gaul  and 
Roman  alike  were  submerged  beneath  the 
Teuton  flood,  while  the  Frankish  Con- 
queror, Clovis  (son  of  the  great  Merovseus), 
was  at  Paris  (or  “Lutetia”)  wearing  the 
kingly  crown. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  independent 
and  of  dynastic  life  in  France. 

Rome  had  found  a more  powerful  ally 
than  she  hoped ; and  the  desire  of  Gaul  was 
accomplished  in  that  she  was  free  from  Rome. 
But  the  king  of  whom  she  had  dreamed 
was  of  her  own  race ; not  this  terrible  Frank. 
Had  she  exchanged  one  servitude  for  an- 
other? Had  she  been,  not  set  free,  but  sim- 
ply annexed  to  the  realm  of  the  Barbarian 
across  the  Rhine?  Let  us  say  rather  that  it 
was  an  espousal.  She  had  brought  her 
dowry  of  beauty  and  “ land, ’’that  most  cov- 
eted of  possessions,  and  had  pledged  obedi- 
ence, for  which  she  was  to  be  cherished, 
honored,  and  protected,  and  to  bear  the  name 
of  her  lord. 

****** 

Ancient  heroes  are  said  to  be  seen  through 
a shadowy  lens,  which  magnifies  their  stat- 


32 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


are.  Let  us  hope  that  the  crimes  of  the 
three  or  four  generations  immediately  suc- 
ceeding Clovis  have  been  in  like  manner 
expanded ; for  it  is  sickening  to  read  of  such 
monstrous  prodigality  of  wickedness.  Whole 
families  butchered,  husbands,  wives,  chil- 
dren— anything  obstructing  the  path  to  the 
throne — with  an  atrocity  which  makes  Rich- 
ard III.  seem  a mere  pigmy  in  the  art  of  in- 
trigue and  killing.  The  chapter  closes  with 
the  daughter  and  mother  of  kings  (Brune- 
hilde  or  Brunhaut)  naked  and  tied  by  one 
arm,  one  leg  and  her  hair  to  the  tail  of  an 
unbroken  horse,  and  amid  jeers  and  shouts 
dashed  over  the  stones  of  Paris  (600  a.d.). 

But  even  the  Frank  succumbed  to  the  ener- 
vating Gallic  influence.  The  Merovingian 
line  commenced  by  Clovis  faded  from  ferocity 
into  imbecility.  Its  Kings  in  less  than  two 
centuries  had  become  mere  lay-figures,  wear- 
ing the  symbols  of  an  authority  which  ex- 
isted nowhere,  unless  in  the  Maire  du  Palais. 

This  office  from  being  a sort  of  royal  stew- 
ardship had  grown  to  be  the  governing  power 
de  facto.  While  Theodoric,  the  Phantom 
King,  was  having  his  loug  locks  dressed  and 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


33 


perfumed,  his  Maire  du  Palais , Charles,  was 
moulding  and  welding  his  kingdom,  and  at 
the  same  time  staying  the  Mohammedan 
flood  which  was  pouring  over  the  Pyrenees ; 
and,  by  his  final  and  decisive  blow  in  defence 
of  the  Christianity  espoused  by  Clovis,  earn- 
ing the  name  Charles  Martel  (the  hammer). 
****** 

Less  than  one  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  Clovis,  there  had  come  out  of  Asia, 
that  birthplace  of  religions,  a new  faith, 
which  was  destined  to  be  for  centuries  the 
scourge  of  Christendom,  and  which  to-day 
rules  one-third  of  the  human  family.  Zoroas- 
ter, Buddha,  Christ,  had  successively  come 
with  saving  message  to  humanity,  and  now 
(600  a.d.)  Mohammed  believed  himself 
divinely  appointed  to  drive  out  of  Arabia  the 
idolatry  of  ancient  Magianism  (the  religion 
of  Zoroaster). 

Christianity  had  passed,  through  strange 
vicissitudes.  Kings,  Emperors,  Popes,  and 
Bishops  had  been  terrible  custodians  of  its 
truths,  and  while  many  still  held  it  in  its 
primitive  purity,  ecclesiastics  were  fiercely 
fighting  over  the  nature  of  the  Trinity,  the 


34 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


divinity  of  the  Virgin  Mother,  and  the 
Church  was  shaken  to  its  foundation  by  fu- 
rious factions. 

In  this  hour  of  weakness,  the  Persians 
(590  a.d.)  had  conquered  Asia  Minor.  Beth- 
lehem, Gethsemane,  and  Calvary  were  pro- 
faned ; the  Holy  Sepulchre  had  been  burned, 
and  the  cross  carried  off  amid  shouts  of 
laughter.  Magianism  had  insulted  Christi- 
anity, and  no  miracle  had  interposed ! The 
heavens  did  not  roll  asunder,  nor  did  the 
earth  open  her  abysses  to  swallow  them  up. 
There  was  consternation  and  doubt  in  Chris- 
tendom. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Church  when 
Mohammedanism  came  into  existence. 
“There  is  but  one  God,  and  Mohammed  is 
his  Prophet.”  Such  was  its  battle-cry  and 
its  creed,  and  the  moral  precepts  of  the 
Koran  its  gospel.  There  seems  nothing  in 
this  to  account  for  the  mad  enthusiasm  and 
the  passion  for  worship  in  its  followers.  But 
in  less  than  a hundred  years  this  lion  out  of 
Arabia  had  subjected  Syria,  Mesopotamia, 
Egypt,  Northern  Africa,  and  the  Spanish 
Peninsula.  Now,  sword  in  one  hand,  and 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


35 


the  Koran  in  the  other,  the  Mohammedan 
had  crossed  the  Pyrenees  and  was  in  South- 
ern Gaul. 

Under  the  strange  magic  of  this  faith, 
the  largest  religious  empire  the  world  had 
known  had  sprung  into  existence,  stretch- 
ing from  the  Chinese  Wall  to  the  Atlantic; 
from  the  Caspian  to  the  Indian  Ocean ; and 
Jerusalem,  the  metropolis  of  Christianity — 
Jerusalem,  the  Mecca  of  the  Christian,  was 
lost!  The  crescent  floated  over  the  birth- 
place of  our  Lord,  and  notwithstanding  the 
temporary  successes  of  the  Crusades,  it  does 
to  this  day. 

If  the  Pyrenees  were  passed,  the  very 
existence  of  Christendom  was  threatened. 
Charles  Martel,  the  grandfather  of  Charle- 
magne, averted  this  danger  when  he  stayed 
the  infidel  flood  at  the  battle  of  Tours,  7 32 
A.D. 

Pepin,  the  son  of  Charles  Martel,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  as  Maire  du  Palais , does  not 
seem  to  have  bad  the  temper  or  spirit  of  an 
usurper,  but  simply  to  have  been  an  ener- 
getic, resolute  man  who  was  bored  by  the 
circumlocution  of  governing  through  a King 


36 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


who  did  not  exist.  He  determined  to  put  an 
end  to  the  fiction,  and  to  cut  the  Gordian 
knot  by  first  cutting  the  long  curls  of  the 
last  Merovingian,  Childeric;  and  then  put- 
ting the  crown  upon  his  own  head,  he  sent  the 
unfortunate  phantom  of  royalty  to  a mon- 
astery, to  reflect  upon  the  uncertainty  of 
human  pleasures  and  events.  By  right  of 
manhood  and  superiority,  the  Carlovingian 
line  had  succeeded  to  the  Merovingian. 

* * * * * * 

Against  the  dark  background  of  European 
history,  and  with  the  broad  level  of  obscur- 
ity stretching  over  the  ages  at  its  feet,  there 
rises  one  shining  pinnacle.  Considered  as 
man  or  sovereign,  Charlemagne  is  one  of 
the  most  impressive  figures  in  history.  His 
seven  feet  of  stature  clad  in  shining  steel, 
his  masterful  grasp  of  the  forces  of  his  time, 
his  splendid  intelligence,  instinct  even  then 
with  the  modern  spirit,  all  combine  to  ele- 
vate him  in  solitary  grandeur. 

Charlemagne  found  France  in  disorder 
measureless,  and  apparently  insurmounta- 
ble. Barbarian  invasion  without,  and  an- 
archy within ; Saxon  paganism  pressing  in 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


37 


upon  the  North,  and  Asiatic  Islamism  upon 
the  South  and  West;  a host  of  forces  strug- 
gling for  dominion  in  a nation  brutish,  ig- 
norant, and  without  cohesion. 

It  is  the  attribute  of  genius  to  discern  op- 
portunity where  others  see  nothing.  Charle- 
magne saw  rising  out  of  this  chaos  a great 
resuscitated  Roman  empire,  which  should 
be  at  the  same  time  a spiritual  and  Christian 
empire  as  well.  Saxons,  Slavs,  Huns, 
Lombards,  Arabs,  came  under  his  compell- 
ing grasp;  these  antagonistic  races  all  held 
together  by  the  force  of  one  terrible  will,  in 
unnatural  combination  with  France.  No 
political  liberties,  no  popular  assemblies  dis- 
cussing public  measures ; it  is  Charlemagne 
alone  who  fills  the  picture;  it  is  absolutism, 
— marked  by  prudence,  ability,  and  gran- 
deur, but  still,  absolutism. 

The  Pope  looked  approvingly  upon  this 
son  of  the  Church  by  whose  order  4,500  pa 
gan  heads  could  be  cut  off  in  one  day,  and 
a whole  army  compelled  to  baptism  in  an 
afternoon.  Here  was  a champion  to  be  pro- 
pitiated! Charlemagne,  on  the  other  hand, 
saw  in  the  Church  the  most  compliant  and 


38 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


effective  means  to  empire.  In  the  loving 
alliance  formed,  he  was  to  be  the  protector, 
the  Pope  the  protected.  He  wore  the  Church 
as  a precious  jewel  in  his  crown. 

It  was  a splendid  dream,  splendidly  real- 
ized ; the  most  imposing  of  human  successes, 
and  the  most  impressive  of  human  failures. 
It  seems  designed  as  a lesson  for  the  human 
race  in  the  transitory  nature  of  power  ap- 
plied from  without. 

The  vast  fabric  passed  with  himself ; was 
gone  like  a shadow  when  he  was  gone.  The 
unity  of  the  Empire^was  buried  in  the  grave 
of  its  founder.  In  twenty -nine  years  (by 
the  treaty  of  Verdun)  three  kingdoms 
emerged  from  the  crumbling  mass.  France, 
Italy,  Germany,  already  separated  by  race 
repulsions,  had  taken  up  each  a distinct  na- 
tional existence,  the  Imperial  crown  re- 
maining with  Germany. 

And  France — France,  the  centre  of  this 
dream  of  unity,  with  her  native  incohesive- 
ness,  and  in  the  irony  of  fate,  had  broken  into 
no  less  than  59  fragments,  loosely  held  to- 
gether by  one  Carlovingian  King. 


CHAPTER  V. 


I think  that  it  was  Lincoln  who  said  that 
“ the  Lord  must  like  common  people,  because 
he  had  made  so  many  of  them.”  The  path 
for  the  common  people  in  France  at  this  time 
led  through  heavy  shadows.  But  *a  darker 
time  was  approaching.  A system  of  oppres- 
sion was  maturing,  which  was  soon  to  en- 
velop them  in  the  obscurity  of  darkest  night. 

Those  Scandinavian  freebooters  called 
Northmen,  and  later  Normans,  were  the 
scourge  of  the  kingdom.  Nothing  was  safe 
from  their  insolent  courage  and  rapacity. 

The  rich  could  intrench  themselves  in  stone 
fortresses,  with  moats  and  drawbridges,  and 
be  in  comparative  security,  but  the  poor 
were  utterly  defenceless  against  this  peren- 
nial destroyer.  The  result  was  a compact 
between  the  powerful  and  the  weak,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Feudal  System. 


40 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


It  was  in  effect  an  exchange  of  protection 
for  service  and  fealty.  You  give  us  absolute 
control  of  your  persons — your  military  ser- 
vice when  required,  and  a portion  of  your 
substance  and  the  fruit  of  your  toil — and  we 
will  in  exchange  give  you  our  fortified  cas- 
tles as  a refuge  from  the  Northmen.  Such 
was  the  offer.  It  was  a choice  between  vas- 
salage, serfdom,  or  destruction  outright. 

Simple  enough  in  its  beginnings,  this  be- 
came a ramified  system  of  oppression,  a cu- 
rious network  of  authority,  ingeniously  con- 
trolling an  entire  people.  The  conditions 
upon  which  was  engrafted  this  compact  were 
of  great  antiquity,  had  indeed  been  brought 
across  the  Rhine  by  their  German  conquer- 
ors; but  the  Northmen  were  the  impelling 
cause  of  the  swift  development  of  feudalism 
in  France. 

Charlemagne  had  felt  grave  apprehensions 
of  evil  from  these  robber  incursions,  but  could 
not  have  conceived  of  a result  such  as  this, 
the  most  oppressive  system  ever  fastened 
upon  a nation,  and  one  which  would  at  the 
same  time  sap  the  foundations  of  royalty  it- 
self. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


41 


The  theory  was  that  the  King  was  absolute 
owner  of  all  the  territory ; the  great  lords 
holding  their  titles  from  him  on  condition 
of  military  service,  their  vassals  pledging 
military  service  and  obedience  to  them  again 
on  similar  terms,  and  sub-vassals  again  to 
them  repeating  the  pledge ; and  so  on  in  de- 
scending chain,  until  at  last  the  serf,  that 
wretched  being  whom  none  looks  up  to  nor 
fears,  is  ground  to  powder  beneath  the  su- 
perimposed mass.  No  appeal  from  the  au- 
thority, no  escape  from  the  caprice  or  cruelty 
of  his  feudal  lord.  Could  any  scales  weigh 
could  any  words  measure  the  suffering  w^hich 
must  have  been  endured?  Is  it  strange,  with 
every  aspiration  thwarted,  hope  stifled,  that 
Europe  sank  into  the  long  sleep  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages? 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  under  such  a 
system,  where  all  the  affairs  of  the  realm 
were  adjusted  by  individual  rulers  with  un- 
limited power,  and  where  the  great  barons 
could  make  war  upon  each  other  without 
authorization  from  the  King,  that  by  the 
time  this  nominal  head  of  the  entire  system 


42 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


was  reached,  there  was  nothing  for  him  to 
do.  In  fact,  there  was  not  left  one  vestige 
of  kingly  authority,  and  Carlovingian  rulers 
were  almost  as  insignificant  as  their  Mero- 
vingian predecessors.  France  had,  instead 
of  one  great  sovereign,  150  petty  ones! 
****** 

In  911  a.d.  the  Northmen  were  offered 
the  province  henceforth  known  as  Nor- 
mandy, upon  condition  of  their  acceptance 
of  the  religion  and  submission  to  the  laws 
of  the  realm.  Rollo,  the  disreputable  rob- 
ber-chief, took  the  oath  of  fealty  to  the  King 
of  France  his  Suzerain,  and  Christian  bap- 
tism transformed  him  into  respectable,  law- 
abiding  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy. 

With  marvellous  facility  this  people  took 
on  the  language  and  manners  of  their  neigh- 
bors, and  in  a century  and  a half  were  pre- 
pared to  instruct  the  Britons  in  a higher 
civilization . 

I think  it  is  one  hundred  years  of  respect- 
ability that  is  required  by  a certain  aristo- 
cratic club  for  admission  to  its  membership. 
The  blood  does  not  acquire  the  proper  shade 
of  azure  until  it  has  flowed  in  the  full  light 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


43 


of  day  for  at  least  three  generations.  De- 
cidedly, William  the  Conqueror,  first  Nor- 
man King  of  England,  could  not  have  been 
admitted  to  this  club. 

A century  before  his  birth,  his  ancestors 
had  lived  by  looting  their  neighbors.  They 
were  highwaymen,  robbers,  by  profession. 
And,  to  increase  his  ineligibility,  his  mother, 
a pretty  Norman  peasant  girl,  daughter  of  a 
tanner,  had  ensnared  the  affections  of  that 
pleasant  Duke  of  Normandy,  known  as 
“Robert  the  Devil.” 

William,  the  fruit  of  this  unconsecrated 
union,  became  in  time  Duke  of  Normandy. 
With  that  reversion  to  ancestral  types  to 
which  scientists  tell  us  we  are  all  liable,  he 
seems  to  have  looked  across  the  Channel 
toward  England,  with  an  awakening  of  his 
robber-instincts.  In  a few  weeks,  Harold, 
the  last  King  of  the  Saxons,  lay  dead  at  his 
feet,  and  William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  was 
William  I.,  King  of  England. 

Then  was  presented  the  curious  anomaly 
of  an  English  sovereign  who  was  also  ruler 
of  a French  province;  an  English  king  who 
was  vassal  to  the  King  of  France.  A door 


44 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


was  thus  opened  (1066  A.  D.)  through  which 
entered  entangling  complications  and  count- 
less woes  in  the  future. 

****** 

If  Charlemagne  had  worn  the  Church  as  a 
precious  jewel  in  his  crown  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, the  Church  now  in  the  eleventh  century 
wore  all  the  European  states,  a tiara  of  jewels 
in  her  mitre.  The  centre  of  dominion  had 
passed  from  the  Empire  of  Germany  to  Rome, 
when  Henry  IV.  prostrated  himself  barefoot- 
ed before  Gregory  VII..  at  Canossa  in  1072. 

The  Church  was  at  its  zenith.  As  a politi- 
cal system  it  was  unrivalled;  but  its  tri- 
umphs brought  little  joy  to  the  earnest 
souls  still  clinging  to  the  ideals  of  primitive 
Christianity.  But  what  availed  it  for  Abe- 
lard to  lead  an  intellectual  revolt  against 
corrupted  beliefs  in  the  North,  or  the  Albi- 
genses  a spiritual  one  in  the  South?  He 
was  silenced  and  immured  for  life,  while 
the  unhappy  inhabitants  of  Languedoc  were 
massacred  and  almost  exterminated,  and  an 
inquisition,  established  at  Toulouse,  made 
sure  that  heretical  germs  should  not  again 
spread  from  that  infected  centre. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


45 


But  however  imperfect  the  religious  senti- 
ment of  the  time,  however  it  may  have 
departed  from  the  simple  precepts  of  its 
founder,  its  power  to  sway  the  hearts  and 
lives  of  the  people  may  he  judged  from  the 
extraordinary  movement  started  in  France  in 
the  twelfth  century. 

How  inconceivable,  in  this  practical  age, 
that  Europe  should  three  times  have  emptied 
her  choicest  and  best  into  Asia  for  a senti- 
ment ! Business  suspended,  private  interests 
sacrificed  or  forgotten,  life,  treasure,  all 
eagerly  given — for  what?  That  a small  bit 
of  territory,  a thousand  miles  away,  he  torn 
from  profaning  infidels,  because  of  its  sacred 
associations,  because  it  was  the  birthplace 
of  a religion  whose  meaning  seems  to  have 
escaped  them — a religion  which  they  wore 
on  their  battle-flags,  but  not  in  their  hearts. 
How  would  a barefooted,  rope-girdled  monk, 
however  inspired  and  eloquent,  fare  to-day 
in  New  York,  or  London,  or  Paris? 

History  has  no  stranger  chapter  than  that 
of  the  Crusades.  When  Peter  the  Hermit 
pictured  the  desecration  of  the  Holy  Land 
by  Mohammedans,  all  classes  in  France, 


46 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


from  King  to  serf,  were  for  the  first  time 
moved  by  a common  sentiment,  and  poured 
life  and  treasure  with  passionate  zeal  into 
those  streams  which  three  times  inundated 
Palestine. 

The  order  of  Knights  Templar  had  been 
created,  and  a splendid  ideal  of  manhood 
held  up  before  the  French  nation,  and  now 
the  knightly  ideal,  side  by  side  with  the 
Christian  and  the  romantic  ideal,  entered 
into  the  life  of  the  people.  Romance,  song, 
poetry,  eloquence  came  into  being  from  a 
sort  of  spiritual  baptism,  and  France  began 
to  wear  the  mantle  of  beauty  which  was  to 
be  her  chief  glory  in  the  future. 

But  future  France  was  not  clad  in  coat 
of  mail  in  the  twelfth  century.  She  was 
lying  helpless,  beneath  the  mass  of  feudal 
trappings.  Her  time  was  not  yet. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Like  all  oppressive  systems,  feudalism  bore 
within  itself  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction. 
When  the  King,  shorn  of  prerogative  and  of 
dignity,  made  alliance  with  the  people  lying 
in  helpless  misery  beneath  the  mailed  sur- 
face, the  system  was  rudely  shaken.  When 
artisans  flocked  to  the  free  cities  enjoying 
especial  immunities  and  privileges  from  the 
King,  and  by  skill  and  industry  amassed 
fortunes,  the  commune  and  the  bourgeoisie 
were  created,  and  feudalism  was  stricken  to 
its  centre.  When  spendthrift  nobles  and 
needy  barons  mortgaged  their  estates,  the 
end  was  not  far  off.  And  when  in  1302 
the  “ tiers  etat ” entered  the  States-General 
as  a legitimate  order  of  the  Government,  the 
very  foundations  were  crumbling,  and  it 
needed  but  the  final  coup  de  grace  given  by 
Charles  VII.  in  the  fifteenth  century,  when 


48 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


he  established  a standing  army  under  the 
control  of  the  King.  When  this  was  done, 
the  feudal  system  was  relegated  to  the 
region  of  the  obsolete. 

It  was  well  for  that  sovereign  that  he 
could  do  something  to  save  his  name  from 
the  obloquy  attached  to  it  on  account  of  his 
base  desertion  of  Joan  of  Arc,  to  whom  he 
owed  his  throne  and  his  kingdom. 

From  the  moment  when  a French  province 
was  attached  to  the  crown  of  England,  the 
dream  of  that  nation  was  the  conquest  of 
France.  Generations  came  and  went,  one 
dynasty  replaced  another,  and  still  the 
struggle  continued ; France  sometimes  seem- 
ing near  to  dominion  over  England,  and 
England  always  believing  it  was  her  destiny 
to  bring  France  under  the  rule  of  an  Eng- 
lish sovereign. 

A glamour  of  romance  is  thrown  over 
history  by  the  royal  marriages  which  occur 
in  dazzling  profusion.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  custom,  whenever  a peace  was  con- 
cluded in  Europe,  to  cement  it  with  a royal 
marriage,  and  to  throw  in  a princess  as  a 
sacrifice, — one  of  the  conditions  of  almost 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


49 


every  treaty  being  that  a royal  daughter, 
or  sister,  or  niece,  should  be  tossed  across 
the  Channel,  or  into  Germany,  or  Italy,  or 
Spain,  an  unwilling  bride  thrown  into  the 
arms  of  a reluctant  bridegroom;  with  the 
result  that  in  the  succeeding  generation 
there  was  a plentiful  sprinkling  of  heirs  with 
claims,  more  or  less  shadowy,  to  the  neigh- 
boring thrones.  This  was  the  source,  or 
rather  pretext,  for  most  of  the  wars  be- 
tween France  and  England  for  four  hundred 
years. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  great  crisis  arrived.  With  that  lack  of 
unity  which  seemed  a fatal  Gallic  inheri- 
tance, France  broke  into  civil  war,  while  an 
invading  English  army  was  in  the  heart  of 
her  kingdom.  England’s  dream  was  near 
realization. 

An  insane  King,  a vicious  intriguing 
Queen-Regent,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  madly 
jealous  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  both 
ready  to  sacrifice  France  in  the  rage  of  dis- 
appointed ambition, — such  were  the  ele- 
ments. England’s  opportunity  had  come. 

The  depraved  Queen  Isabella,  acting  for 


50  EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 

her  insane  husband,  held  conference  with 
Henry  V.,  and  actually  concluded  a treaty 
bestowing  the  regency  upon  the  English 
King.  There  was  the  usual  douceur  of  a 
princess  thrown  in,  and  Katharine,  the 
daughter  of  Isabella,  and  sister  to  the  Dau- 
phin (the  future  King  Charles  VII.),  was 
espoused  by  King  Henry  V.  of  England,  who 
set  up  a royal  court  at  Vincennes. 

The  fortunes  of  the  kingdom  had  never 
been  so  desperate.  The  people  saw  in  these 
insolent  traitorous  dukes  their  natural 
enemy;  in  the  King,  their  friend  and  pro- 
tector. Had  not  monarchy  given  them  life 
and  hope?  It  was  to  them  sacred  next  to 
Heaven.  They  rose  in  an  outburst  of  patri- 
otism. The  young  Dauphin  was  hastily  and 
informally  crowned,  and  thousands  flocked  to 
his  standard.  It  was  the  King  and  the  peo- 
ple against  the  great  vassals,  the  last  strug- 
gle of  an  expiring  feudalism.  Desperation 
lent  fury  to  the  conflict  which  was,  upon 
both  sides,  a fight  for  existence ; the  Queen  - 
mother  in  unnatural  alliance  with  the  Duke 
of  Burgundy,  who  was  resolved  to  rule  or 


rum. 


EVOLUTION  OP  AN  EMPIRE. 


51 


He  soon  saw  that  defeat  was  inevitable, 
and,  preferring  infamy,  threw  himself  into 
the  hands  of  the  English,  offering  to  turn 
the  kingdom  over  to  the  infant  King  Henry 
VI.  (Henry  V.  having  died). 

Charles  abandoned  hope;  how  could  he 
struggle  against  such  a combination?  He 
was  considering  whether  he  should  find 
refuge  in  Spain  or  in  Scotland,  when  the 
tide  of  events  was  turned  by  the  strangest 
romance  in  history. 

It  must  ever  remain  a mystery  that  a 
peasant  girl,  a child  in  years  and  in  experi- 
ence, should  have  believed  herself  called  to 
such  a mission;  conferring  only  with  her 
heavenly  guides  or  “voices,”  that  she  should 
have  sought  the  King,  inspired  him  with 
faith  in  her,  and  in  himself  and  his  cause, 
reanimated  the  courage  of  the  army,  and  led 
it  herself  to  victory  absolute  and  complete ; 
and  then,  compelling  the  half-reluctant,  half- 
doubting  Charles  to  go  with  her  to  Rheims, 
where  she  had  him  anointed  and  consecrated, 
this  simple  child  in  that  day  bestowed  upon 
him  a kingdom,  and  upon  France  a King ! 


52 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Was  there  ever  a stranger  chapter  in 
history ! Alas,  if  it  could  have  ended  here, 
and  she  could  have  gone  hack  to  her 
mother  and  her  spinning  and  her  simple 
pleasures,  as  she  was  always  longing  to  do 
when  her  work  should  he  done.  But  no! 
we  see  her  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  de- 
feated and  revengeful  English — this  child, 
who  had  wrested  from  them  a kingdom  al- 
ready in  their  grasp.  She  was  turned  over 
to  the  French  ecclesiastical  court  to  be  tried. 
A sorceress  and  a blasphemer  they  pro- 
nounce her,  and  pass  her  on  to  the  secular 
authorities,  and  her  sentence  is — death. 

We  see  the  poor  defenceless  girl,  bewil- 
dered, terrified,  wringing  her  hands  and  de- 
claring her  innocence  as  she  rides  to  execu- 
tion. God  and  man  had  abandoned  her.  No 
heavenly  voice  spoke,  no  miracle  intervened 
as  her  young  limbs  were  tied  to  the  stake  and 
the  fagots  and  straw  piled  up  about  her. 
The  torch  was  applied,  and  her  pure  soul 
mounted  heavenward  in  a column  of  flames. 

Rugged  men  wept.  A Burgundian  gen- 
eral said,  as  he  turned  gloomily  away,  “We 
have  murdered  a saint.” 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


53 


And  Charles,  sitting  upon  the  throne  she 
had  rescued  for  him,  what  was  he  doing 
to  save  her?  Nothing — to  his  everlasting 
shame  be  it  said,  nothing.  He  might  not 
have  succeeded ; the  effort  at  rescue,  or  to 
stay  the  event,  might  have  been  unavailing. 
But  where  was  his  knighthood,  where  his 
manhood,  that  he  did  not  try,  or  utter  pas- 
sionate protest  against  her  fate? 

Twenty-five  years  later  we  see  him  erect- 
ing statues  to  her  memory,  and  “rehabilitat- 
ing” her  desecrated  name.  And  to-day,  the 
Church  which  condemned  her  for  blasphemy 
is  placing  her  upon  the  calendar  of  saints, 
while  all  political  parties  alike  are  using 
her  name  as  a thing  to  conjure  with. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


The  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century 
must  ever  be  memorable  in  the  history  of 
Europe.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  given 
to  the  human  race  a new  world.  Luther  had 
hurled  his  defiance  at  Rome — had  arraigned 
Leo  X.  for  blasphemy  and  corrupt  practices. 
Charles  V.,  grandson  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  (and  nephew  of  Katherine,  wife  of 
Henry  VIII.)  was  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Astute  and  powerful  though  he  was,  he  had 
been  unable  to  stay  the  Protestant  flood. 
His  empire,  apparently  hungering  for  the 
new  heresy,  was  divided  already  into  States 
Protestant  and  States  Catholic.  England 
was  Protestant.  The  conversion  of  her 
King,  because  the  Pope  refused  to  annul  his 
marriage  with  Katharine,  was  not  one  of 
the  proudest  triumphs  of  the  new  faith,  but 
one  of  the  most  important.  Had  Katha- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


55 


rine’s  charms  been  fresher,  or  Anne  Boleyn’s 
less  alluring,  the  course  of  history  might 
have  been  strangely  changed.  Henry  VIII. 
as  persecutor  of  heretics  would  have  found 
congenial  occupation  for  his  ferocious  in- 
stincts, and  Protestantism  would  have  been 
long  delayed.  Spain  was  unchangeably  Cath- 
olic, while  France  offered  congenial  soil  for 
the  new  faith.  The  germs  of  heresy,  long 
slumbering,  were  everywhere  stirred  into  life. 

Francis  I.  was  King ; sumptuous  in  tastes, 
suave  and  elegant  in  manners,  as  handsome 
as  an  Apollo,  gay,  pleasure-loving,  as  vicious 
as  he  was  false,  and  if  need  be  with  a 
cruelty  which  matched  his  ambition,  such 
was  the  man  who  held  the  destinies  of 
France  at  this  time. 

A rival  claimant  for  the  throne  of  Ger- 
many, he  was  destined  to  spend  his  life  in 
fruitless  contest  with  the  more  able,  wily, 
and  astute  Charles  V.,  the  possession  of  that 
Empire  the  ignis-fatuus  ever  luring  him  on ; 
an  end  to  which  all  other  ends  were  simply 
the  means.  The  religious  question  upon 
which  Europe  was  divided  meant  nothing  to 
him,  except  as  he  could  use  it  in  his  duel 


56 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


with  the  Emperor.  He  was  in  turn  the  ally 
of  Henry  VIII.  or  the  willing  tool  of  Charles 
V.  If  he  needed  the  English  King’s  friend- 
ship, the  Protestants  had  protection.  If  he 
desired  to  placate  Charles  V. , the  roastings 
and  torturings  commenced  again. 

In  154:7  Francis  and  Henry  VIII.  each 
went  to  his  reward,  and  a few  years  later 
Charles  V.  had  laid  down  his  crown  and 
carried  his  weary,  unsatisfied  heart  to  St. 
Yuste.  The  brilliant  pageant  was  over; 
hut  Protestantism  was  expanding. 

The  question  at  issue  was  deeper  than 
any  one  knew.  Neither  Luther  nor  Leo  X. 
understood  the  revolution  they  had  precipi- 
tated. Protestants  and  Papists  alike  failed 
to  comprehend  the  true  nature  of  the  strug- 
gle, which  was  not  for  supremacy  of  Roman- 
ist or  Protestant;  not  whether  this  dogma 
or  that  was  true,  and  should  prevail;  but 
an  assertion  of  the  right  of  every  human 
soul  to  choose  its  own  faith  and  form  of 
worship.  The  great  battle  for  human  lib- 
erty had  commenced ; the  struggle  for 
religious  liberty  was  hut  the  prelude  to  what 
was  to  follow.  There  was  abundant  proof 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


57 


later  that  Protestants  no  less  than  Papists 
needed  only  opportunity  and  power  to  be  as 
cruel  and  intolerant  as  their  persecutors  had 
been.  Before  the  Reformation  was  fifty 
years  old,  Servetus,  one  of  the  greatest  men 
of  his  age,  a scholar,  philosopher,  and  man 
of  irreproachable  character,  was  burned  at 
Geneva  for  heretical  views  concerning  the 
nature  of  the  Trinity,  Calvin,  the  great 
organizer  of  Protestant  theology,  giving,  if 
not  the  order  for  this  crime,  at  least  the  nod 
of  approval. 

****** 

Huguenot,  that  name  of  tragic  associa- 
tion, was  a corruption  of  the  German  Eid- 
genossen — meaning  associates.  By  the  way 
of  Switzerland  it  came  into  France  as  Egue- 
nots , and  the  transition  to  its  present  form 
was  simple.  The  Huguenots  were  no  longer 
a timorous  band  hiding  in  darkness  as  in  the 
time  of  Francis  I.  A party  with  such  lead- 
ers as  Anthony  de  Bourbon,  Prince  of  Conde 
(his  brother),  and  Admiral  Coligny,  was  not 
to  be  put  down  by  a few  roastings  and 
stranglings  here  and  there.  Anthony  de 
Bourbon  (King  of  Navarre)  was  next  in 


58 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


succession  should  the  House  of  Valois  be- 
come extinct,  with  a young  son  valiant  as 
himself  (the  future  Henry.  IV.)  pressing  on 
toward  manhood. 

Catholic  France  needed  plenty  of  comfort 
from  Rome  and  Madrid  in  dealing  with  this 
formidable  body  of  heretics  which  had  fast- 
ened upon  her  vitals,  and  which  was  in  turn 
receiving  aid  and  comfort  from  the  young 
Protestant  Queen  across  the  Channel. 

When  that  fair  princess  Catharine  de 
Medici  became  the  wife  of  Henry,  second 
son  of  Francis  I.,  no  one  suspected  the  tre- 
mendous import  of  the  event.  Powerless  to 
win  the  affection  or  even  confidence  of  her 
husband,  she  remained  during  his  reign 
almost  unobserved,  but,  as  the  event  proved, 
not  unobservant.  Her  alert  faculties  were 
not  idle,  and  when  upon  the  death  of  Henry 
II.  she  found  herself  Queen-Regent,  with 
only  a frail  boy  of  sixteen  to  obstruct  her 
will,  she  quickly  gathered  the  threads  she 
already  knew  so  well,  and  her  supple  hand 
closed  upon  them  with  a grasp  not  to  be 
relinquished  while  she  lived. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


59 


Another  young  Princess  had  been  tossed 
across  the  Channel.  This  time  it  was  her 
most  serene  little  highness,  Marie  Stuart, 
Queen  of  Scotland,  intended  for  the  dauphin, 
who  was  to  be  Francis  II. 

In  order  to  be  prepared  for  this  high  des- 
tiny, the  little  maid  was  brought  when  only 
six  years  old  to  the  Court  of  France  to  be 
trained  under  the  direct  supervision  of  her 
future  mother-in-law,  Catharine  de  Medici. 
Poor  little  Marie  Stuart — predestined  to  sin 
and  to  tragedy ! Who  could  be  good,  with 
the  blood  of  the  Guises  in  her  veins,  and 
with  Catharine  de  Medici  as  preceptress? 

This  marriage  was  planned  before  Catha- 
rine’s advent  to  power,  or  it  would  never 
have  been.  Marie  was  the  niece  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  and  the  central  thought  of  Catha- 
rine’s policy  was  the  exclusion  of  this  am- 
bitious, intriguing  family  from  every  avenue 
to  power  in  the  state.  Now,  Marie  would 
be  Queen,  and  who  so  natural  advisers  as 
her  uncles  of  the  house  of  “ Lorraine  ”? 

The  marriage  of  the  two  children  had 
taken  place — the  sickly  boy  with  only  a mod- 
est portion  of  intelligence  was  Francis  II. 


60 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Marie,  his  Queen,  whom  he  adored,  controlled 
him  utterly,  and  was  in  turn  controlled  by 
her  uncles,  the  Guises.  The  wily  Catharine 
saw  herself  defeated  by  a beautiful  girl  of 
sixteen. 

The  family  of  Guise  was  the  self-appointed 
head  of  the  Catholic  party  in  France  and 
represented  the  most  extreme  views  regard- 
ing the  treatment  of  heretics.  So  the 
strange  result  was,  that  Catharine,  if  she 
looked  for  any  allies  in  her  fight  with  the 
house  of  Lorraine,  of  which  the  Duke  of 
Guise  was  the  head,  must  make  common 
cause  with  the  Protestants,  whom  she  hated 
a little  less  than  she  did  the  uncles  of  Marie 
Stuart.  But  events  were  soon  to  change  the 
situation.  Did  she  hasten  them?  Such  a 
suspicion  may  never  have  existed.  But  may 
one  not  suspect  anything  of  a woman  capa- 
ble of  a St.  Bartholomew? 

Francis  II.  was  dead.  Marie  Stuart  had 
passed  out  of  French  history.  The  fates 
were  fighting  on  the  side  of  Catharine,  who 
wasted  no  regrets  upon  the  death  of  a son, 
which  made  her  Queen -Regent  during  the 
minority  of  her  second  son  Charles.  She 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


61 


entered  upon  her  fight  with  the  Guises  with 
renewed  energy,  and  became  to  some  extent 
protector  of  the  Protestants.  Realizing  that 
her  time  was  brief,  she  prepared  Charles  for 
the  position  he  would  soon  hold. 

What  can  be  said  of  a mother  who  seeks 
to  exterminate  every  germ  of  truth  or  virtue 
in  her  son — who  immerses  him  in  degrading 
vices  in  order  to  deaden  his  too  sensitive 
conscience  and  make  him  a willing  tool  for 
her  purposes?  Inheriting  the  splendid  in- 
telligence as  well  as  genius  for  statecraft  of 
the  de  Medici,  nourished  from  her  infancy 
upon  Machiavellian  principles,  cold  and  cruel 
by  nature,  this  Florentine  woman  has  writ- 
ten her  name  in  blood  across  the  pages  of 
French  history. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


There  is  not  time  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
events  leading  up  to  that  fateful  night, 
August  24,  1572.  Impelled  always  by  her 
fear  and  dread  of  the  Guises,  Catharine  had 
been  vacillating  in  her  policy  with  the  Hu- 
guenots. Charles  IX.  was  now  King:  im- 
pressible, easily  influenced,  yet  stubborn, 
intractable,  incoherent,  passionate,  and  un- 
reliable ; sometimes  inclining  to  the  Guises, 
sometimes  to  Coligny  and  the  Huguenots, 
and  always  submitting  at  last  after  vain 
struggle  to  his  imperious  mother’s  will,  in 
her  efforts  to  free  him  from  both.  We  see 
in  him  a weak  character,  not  naturally  bad, 
torn  to  distraction  by  the  cruel  forces  about 
him,  who  when  compelled  to  yield,  as  he 
always  did  in  the  end,  to  that  terrible  wo- 
man, would  give  way  to  fits  of  impotent 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


63 


rage  against  the  fate  which  allowed  him  no 
peace. 

A time  arrived  when  Catharine  feared  the 
influence  of  the  Protestant  Coligny  more 
than  the  Guises.  Brave,  patriotic,  magnetic, 
he  had  succeeded  in  winning  Charles’  con- 
sent to  declare  war  against  Spain.  Philip 
II.  of  Spain  was  Catharine’s  son-in-law  and 
closest  ally.  Her  entire  policy  would  be 
undermined.  At  all  hazards  Coligny  must 
be  gotten  rid  of.  The  young  King  of  Na- 
varre, adored  leader  of  the  Protestants,  was 
a constant  menace ; he  too  must  in  some  way 
be  disposed  of. 

There  were  sinister  conferences  with  Philip 
of  Spain  and  with  his  Minister,  that  incar- 
nation of  cruelty  and  of  the  Inquisition,  the 
Duke  of  Alva. 

God  knows  France  was  not  guiltless  in 
what  followed;  but  the  initiative,  the  in- 
ception of  the  horrid  deed,  was  not  French. 
It  was  conceived  in  the  brain  of  either  this 
Italian  woman  or  her  Spanish  adviser  and 
co-conspirator,  the  Duke  of  Alva.  We  will 
never  know  the  inside  history  of  the  massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew.  It  must  ever  re- 


64 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


main  a matter  of  conjecture  just  how  and 
when  it  was  planned,  hut  the  probabilities 
point  strongly  one  way. 

Charles  was  to  be  gradually  prepared  for 
it  by  his  mother,  the  plot  revealed  to  him  as 
he  was  in  condition  to  bear  it ; by  working 
upon  his  fears,  his  suspicions,  by  stories  of 
plottings  against  his  life  and  his  kingdom, 
to  infuriate  him,  and  then — before  his  rage 
was  exhausted — to  act.  The  marriage  of 
Charles’  sister  Margaret  with  the  young 
Protestant  leader  Henry  of  Navarre,  with 
its  promise  of  future  protection  to  the  Hu- 
guenots, was  part  of  the  plot.  It  would  lure 
all  the  leaders  of  the  cause  to  Paris.  Co- 
ligny,  Conde,  all  the  heads  of  the  party 
were  urgently  invited  to  attend  the  marriage - 
feast  which  was  to  inaugurate  an  era  of 
peace. 

Admiral  Coligny  was  requested  by  Catha- 
rine, simply  as  a measure  of  protection  to 
the  Protestants,  to  have  an  additional  regi- 
ment of  guards  in  Paris,  to  act  in  case  of 
any  unforeseen  violence. 

Two  days  after  the  marriage  and  while 
the  festivities  were  at  their  height,  an  at- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


65 


tempt  upon  the  life  of  the  old  Admiral 
awoke  suspicion  and  alarm.  But  Catharine 
and  her  son  went  immediately  in  person  to 
see  the  wounded  old  man,  and  to  express 
their  grief  and  horror  at  the  event.  They 
commanded  that  a careful  list  of  the  names 
and  abode  of  every  Protestant  in  Paris  be 
made,  in  order,  as  they  said,  “ to  take  them 
under  their  own  immediate  protection.” 
“My  dear  father,”  said  the  King,  “the  hurt 
is  yours,  the  grief  is  mine.” 

At  that  moment,  the  knives  were  already 
sharpened,  every  man  instructed  in  his  part 
in  the  hideous  drama,  and  the  signal  for  its 
commencement  determined  upon.  Charles 
did  not  know  it,  but  his  mother  did.  She 
went  to  her  son’s  room  that  night,  artfully 
and  eloquently  pictured  the  danger  he  was 
in,  confessed  to  him  that  she  had  authorized 
the  attempt  upon  Coligny,  but  that  it  was 
done  because  of  the  Admiral’s  plottings 
against  him,  which  she  had  discovered.  But 
the  Guises  — her  enemies  and  his  — they 
knew  it,  and  would  denounce  her  and  the 
King ! The  only  thing  now  is  to  finish  the 
work.  He  must  die. 


66 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Charles  was  in  frightful  agitation  and 
stubbornly  refused.  Finally  with  an  air  of 
offended  dignity  she  bowed  coldly  and  said 
to  her  son,  “ Sir,  will  you  permit  me  to  with- 
draw with  my  daughter  from  your  king- 
dom?” The  wretched  Charles  was  con- 
quered. In  a sort  of  insane  fury  he 
exclaimed,  “Well,  let  them  kill  him,  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  Huguenots  too.  See  that  not 
one  remains  to  reproach  me.” 

This  was  more  than  she  had  hoped.  All 
was  easy  now.  So  eager  was  she  to  give  the 
order  before  a change  of  mood,  that  she  flew 
herself  to  give  the  signal,  fully  two  hours 
earlier  than  was  expected.  At  midnight 
the  tocsin  rang  out  upon  the  night,  and  the 
horror  began. 

Lulled  to  a feeling  of  security  by  artfully 
contrived  circumstances,  husbands,  wives, 
sons,  daughters,  peacefully  sleeping,  were 
awakened  to  see  each  other  hideously  slaugh- 
tered. 

The  stars  have  looked  down  upon  some 
terrible  scenes  in  Paris,  her  stones  are  not 
unacquainted  with  the  taste  of  human  blood, 
but  never  had  there  been  anything  like  this. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


67 


The  carnage  of  battle  is  merciful  compared 
with  it.  Shrieking  women  and  children, 
half-clothed,  fleeing  from  knives  already 
dripping  with  human  blood ; frantic  mothers 
shielding  the  bodies  of  their  children,  and 
wives  pleading  for  the  lives  of  husbands; 
the  living  hiding  beneath  the  bodies  of  the 
dead. 

The  cry  that  ascended  to  Heaven  from 
Paris  that  night  was  the  most  awful  and 
despairing  in  the  world’s  history.  It  was 
centuries  of  cruelty  crowded  into  a few 
hours. 

The  number  slain  can  never  be  accurately 
stated ; but  it  was  thousands.  Human  blood 
is  intoxicating.  An  orgie  set  in  which 
laughed  at  orders  to  cease.  Seven  days  it 
continued  and  then  died  out  for  lack  of 
material.  The  provinces  had  caught  the 
contagion,  and  orders  to  slay  were  received 
and  obeyed  in  all  except  two,  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Bayonne,  to  his  honor  be  it  told, 
writing  to  the  King  in  reply:  “Your  Maj- 
esty has  many  faithful  subjects  in  Bayonne, 
but  not  one  executioner.” 

And  where  was  “His  Majesty”  while  this 


68 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


work  was  being  done?  How  was  it  with 
Catharine?  She  was  possibly  seeing  to  the 
embalming  of  Coligny’s  head,  which  we 
learn  she  sent  as  a present  to  the  Pope. 
We  hear  of  no  regrets,  no  misgivings,  that 
she  was  calm,  collected,  suave  and  un- 
fathomable as  ever,  but  that  Charles  in  a 
strange,  half-frenzied  state  was  amusing 
himself  by  firing  from  the  windows  of  the 
palace  at  the  fleeing  Huguenots.  Had  he 
killed  himself  in  remorse,  would  it  not  have 
been  better,  instead  of  lingering  two 
wretched  years,  a prey  to  mental  tortures 
and  an  inscrutable  malady,  before  he  died? 

Europe  was  shocked.  Christendom  averted 
her  face  in  horror.  But  at  Madrid  and 
Rome  there  was  satisfaction. 

Catharine  and  the  Duke  of  Alva  had  done 
their  work  skilfully,  but  the  result  surprised 
and  disappointed  them.  Tens  of  thousands 
of  Huguenots  were  slain,  which  was  well; 
but  many  times  that  number  remained,  with 
spirit  unbroken,  which  was  not  well. 

They  had  been  too  merciful ! Why  had 
Henry  of  Navarre  been  spared?  Had  not 
Alva  said,  “Take  the  big  fish  and  let  the 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


69 


small  fry  go.  One  salmon  is  worth  more 
than  a thousand  frogs.” 

But  Charles  considered  the  matter  settled 
when  he  uttered  those  swelling  words  to 
Henry  of  Navarre  the  day  after  the  massa- 
cre: “I  mean  in  future  to  have  one  religion 
in  my  kingdom.  It  is  mass  or  death.” 

Catharine’s  third  son  now  wore  the  crown 
of  France.  In  Henry  III.  she  had  as  pliant 
an  instrument  for  her  will  as  in  the  two 
brothers  preceding  him ; and,  like  them,  his 
reign  was  spent  in  alternating  conflict  with 
the  Protestants  and  the  Duke  de  Guise.  At 
last,  wearied  and  exasperated,  this  half -Ital- 
ian and  altogether  conscienceless  King 
quite  naturally  thought  of  the  stiletto.  The 
old  Duke,  as  he  entered  the  King’s  apart- 
ment by  invitation,  was  stricken  down  by 
assassins  hidden  for  that  purpose. 

Henry  had  not  counted  on  the  rebound 
from  that  blow.  Catholic  France  was  excited 
to  such  popular  fury  against  him  that  he 
threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Protes- 
tants, imploring  their  aid  in  keeping  his 
crown  and  his  kingdom ; and  when  himself 


70 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


assassinated,  a year  later,  in  the  absence  of 
a son  he  named  Henry,  King  of  Navarre,  his 
successor.  A Protestant  and  a Huguenot 
was  King  of  France. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


After  long  wandering  in  strange  seas, 
we  come  in  view  of  familiar  lights  and 
headlands.  With  the  advent  of  the  house 
of  Bourbon,  we  have  grasped  a thread  which 
leads  directly  down  to  our  own  time. 

The  accession  of  a Protestant  King  was 
hailed  with  delirious  joy  by  the  Huguenots, 
and  with  corresponding  rage  by  Catholic 
France.  The  one  looked  forward  to  redress- 
ing of  wrongs  and  avenging  of  injuries;  and 
the  other  flatly  refused  submission  unless 
Henry  should  recant  his  heresy,  and  be- 
come a convert  to  the  true  faith. 

The  new  King  saw  there  was  no  bed  of 
roses  preparing  for  him.  After  four  years 
of  effort  to  reconcile  the  irreconcilable,  he 
decided  upon  his  course.  He  was  not  called 
to  the  throne  to  rule  over  Protestant  France, 


72 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


nor  to  be  an  instrument  of  vengeance  for 
the  Huguenots.  He  saw  that  the  highest 
good  of  the  kingdom  required,  not  that  he 
should  impose  upon  it  either  form  of  belief 
or  worship,  but  give  equal  opportunity  and 
privilege  to  both. 

To  the  consternation  of  the  Huguenots  he 
announced  himself  ready  to  listen  to  the 
arguments  in  favor  of  the  religion  of  Rome ; 
and  it  took  just  five  hours  of  deliberation  to 
convince  him  of  its  truth.  He  announced 
himself  ready  to  abjure  his  old  faith.  Bit- 
ter reproaches  on  the  one  side  and  rejoic- 
ings on  the  other  greeted  this  decision.  It 
was  not  heroic.  But  many  even  among  the 
Protestants  acknowledged  it  to  be  an  act  of 
supreme  political  wisdom. 

Peace  was  restored,  and  the  ‘‘Edict  of 
Nantes,”  which  quickly  followed,  proved  to 
his  old  friends,  the  Huguenots,  that  they 
were  not  forgotten.  The  Protestants,  with 
every  disability  removed,  shared  equal  priv- 
ileges witji  the  Catholics  throughout  the 
kingdom ; and  the  first  victory  for  religious 
liberty  was  splendidly  won. 

An  era  of  unexampled  prosperity  dawned. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


73 


Never  had  the  kingdom  been  so  wisely  and 
beneficently  governed.  Sincerity,  simplic- 
ity, and  sympathy  had  taken  the  place  of 
dissimulation,  craft,  and  cruelty.  Uplifting 
agencies  were  everywhere  at  work,  reaching 
even  to  the  peasantry,  that  forgotten  ele- 
ment in  the  nation. 

The  reign  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty  had 
opened  auspiciously.  Henry  IY.  was  the 
idol  of  the  people.  His  loveless  marriage 
with  Margaret  de  Valois  had  been  annulled, 
and  he  had  espoused  Marie  de  Medici.  The 
blood  from  that  poisoned  stream  was  again 
to  be  intermingled  with  the  blood  of  the 
future  Kings  of  France. 

After  a reign  of  twenty-one  years,  the 
sagacious  ruler  who  had  done  more  than 
any  other  to  make  her  great  and  happy 
was  stricken  down  by  the  hand  of  an  assas- 
sin, and  aery  of  grief  arose  alike  from  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant  throughout  the  kingdom.  * 

Poor  France  was  again  at  the  mercy  of  a 
woman  with  the  corrupt  instincts  of  the  de 
Medici.  The  widow  of  Henry  IV. , who  was 
Regent  during  the  infancy  of  her  son  Louis, 


74  EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 

was  intriguing,  vulgar,  and  without  the 
ability  of  the  great  Catharine.  The  king- 
dom was  rent  by  cabals  of  aspiring  favorites 
and  ambitious  nobles,  until  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIII.,  or  rather  of  Cardinal  Bichelieu, 
began. 

The  foundations  of  this  man’s  policy  lay 
deep,  out  of  sight  of  all  save  his  own  far- 
reaching  intelligence.  Pitiless  as  an  ice- 
berg, he  crushed  every  obstacle  to  his  pur- 
pose. Impartial  as  fate,  with  no  loves,  no 
hatreds,  Catholics,  Protestants,  nobles,  Par- 
liaments, one  after  another  were  borne  down 
before  his  determination  to  make  the  King, 
what  he  had  not  been  since  Charlemagne, 
supreme  in  France. 

The  will  of  the  great  minister  mowed 
down  like  a scythe.  The  power  of  the  gran- 
dees, that  last  remnant  of  feudalism,  and  a 
perpetual  menace  to  monarchy,  was  swept 
away.  One  great  noble  after  another  was 
humiliated  and  shorn  of  his  privileges,  if 
not  of  his  head. 

The  Huguenots,  being  first  shaken  into 
submission,  saw  their  political  liberties  torn 
from  them  by  the  stroke  of  a pen,  and  even 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE.  75 

while  the  Catholics  were  making  merry  over 
this  discomfiture,  the  minister  was  planning 
to  send  Henrietta,  sister  of  the  King,  across 
the  Channel  to  become  Queen  of  Protestant 
England,  as  wife  of  Charles  I.  But  the 
act  of  supreme  audacity  was  to  come.  This 
high  prelate  of  the  church,  this  cardinal 
minister,  formed  alliance  with  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  the  great  leader  of  the  Protes- 
tants in  the  war  upon  the  Emperor  and  the 
Pope ! 

He  allowed  no  religion,  no  class,  to  sway 
or  to  hold  him.  He  was  for  France;  and 
her  greatness  and  glory  augmented  under 
his  ruthless  dominion.  By  his  extraordinary 
genius  he  made  the  reign  of  a commonplace 
King  one  of  dazzling  splendor;  and  while 
gratifying  his  own  colossal  ambition  he  so 
strengthened  the  foundations  of  the  mon- 
archy that  princes  of  the  blood  themselves 
could  not  shake  it. 

It  was  great — it  was  dazzling,  but  of  all 
his  work  there  is  but  one  thing  which  revo- 
lutions and  time  have  not  swept  away.  The 
“French  Academy”  alone  survives  as  his 
monument.  Out  of  a gathering  of  literary 


76 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


friends  he  created  a national  institution,  its 
object  the  establishing  a court  of  last  appeal 
in  all  that  makes  for  eloquence  in  speaking 
or  writing  the  French  language.  In  a 
country  where  nothing  endures,  this  has 
remained  unchanged  for  two  hundred  and 
thirty  years. 

But  this  master  of  statecraft,  this  creator 
of  despotic  monarchy,  had  one  unsatisfied 
ambition.  He  would  have  exchanged  all 
his  honors  for  the  ability  to  write  one  play 
like  those  of  Corneille.  Hungering  for  liter- 
ary distinction,  he  could  not  have  gotten  into 
his  own  Academy  had  he  not  created  it. 
And  jealous  of  his  laurels,  he  hated  Cor- 
neille as  much  as  he  did  the  enemies  of 
France. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Again  do  we  recognize  the  fine  Italian 
hand  in  French  politics.  Cardinal  Mazarin 
was  Minister  during  the  regency  of  Anne  of 
Austria,  directing  and  controlling  the  affairs 
of  the  Kingdom,  less  intent  upon  the  great- 
ness of  France  than  the  greatness  and  mag- 
nificence of  her  Prime  Minister.  At  last 
the  wily  Italian  was  gone,  and  Louis  XIV. 
settled  himself  upon  the  throne  which  Rich- 
elieu had  rendered  so  exalted  and  immovable. 

Cardinal  Mazarin  had  said  of  the  young 
Louis  that  “there  was  enough  in  him  to 
make  four  Kings,  and  one  honest  man.” 
His  greatness  consisted  more  in  amplitude 
than  in  kind.  Nature  made  him  in  prodigal 
mood.  He  was  an  average  man  of  colossal 
proportions.  His  ability,  courage,  dignity, 
industry,  greed  for  power  and  possessions, 
were  all  on  a magnificent  scale,  and  so  were 


78  EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 

his  vanity,  his  loves,  his  cruelties,  his  pleas- 
ures, his  triumphs,  and  his  disappointments. 

No  King  more  wickedly  oppressed  France, 
and  none  made  her  more  glorious.  He 
made  her  feared  abroad  and  magnificent  at 
home,  hut  he  desolated  her,  and  drained  her 
resources  with  ambitious  wars.  He  crowned 
her  with  imperishable  laurels  in  literature, 
art,  and  every  manifestation  of  genius,  but 
he  signed  the  “ Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,”  and  drove  out  of  his  kingdom 
500,000  of  the  best  of  his  subjects. 

If  the  names  of  Marlborough  and  Main- 
tenon  could  have  been  stricken  out  of  his  life, 
the  story  might  have  had  a different  ending. 
From  the  moment  the  great  Duke  checked 
his  victorious  army,  his  sun  began  to  go 
down ; but  it  was  Maintenon  who  most 
obscured  its  setting. 

His  unloved  Queen,  the  Spanish  Marie 
Therese,  had  borne  his  mad  infatuation  for 
Louise  la  Valliere;  la  Valliere  had  carried 
her  broken  heart  to  a convent,  and  been 
superseded  by  de  Montespan,  and  de  Monte - 
span  had  invited  her  own  destruction  by 
bringing  into  her  household  the  pious  widow 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


79 


of  the  poet  Scarron,  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
(grand-daughter  of  d’Aubigne,  the  historian 
of  the  Reformation).  Grave,  austere,  am- 
bitious, talented,  she  was  not  too  much 
engrossed  in  her  duties  as  governess  of  de 
Montespan’s  children  to  find  ways  of  estab- 
lishing an  influence  over  the  King. 

This  man  who  had  absorbed  into  himself 
all  the  functions  of  the  Government,  who 
was  Ministers,  Magistrates,  Parliaments,  all 
in  one,  this  central  sun  of  whom  Corneille, 
Moliere,  Racine  were  but  single  rays,  was 
destined  to  be  enslaved  in  his  old  age  by  a 
designing  adventuress;  her  will  his  law. 
The  hey-day  of  youth  having  passed,  he 
was  beginning  to  be  anxious  about  his  soul. 
She  artfully  pricked  his  conscience,  and  de 
Montespan  was  sent  away,  but  de  Maintenon 
remained. 

She  next  convinced  him  that  the  only  fit- 
ting atonement  for  his  sins  was  to  drive 
heresy  out  of  his  kingdom,  and  re-establish 
the  true  faith.  At  her  bidding  he  undid 
the  glorious  work  of  Henry  IV.,  signed  the 
“Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,”  and 
brutally  stamped  out  Protestantism. 


80 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


A part  of  the  scheme  of  penitence  seems 
to  have  been  that  on  the  death  of  poor  Marie 
Therese,  he  should  make  her  (de  Maintenon) 
his  lawful  wife,  which  he  did  privately ; and 
his  sun  went  down  obscured  by  crushing 
griefs  and  disappointments.  His  children 
swept  away,  the  prestige  of  success  tar- 
nished, this  demigod  was  taken  to  pieces  by 
time’s  destroying  fingers,  quite  as  uncere- 
moniously as  are  the  rest  of  us,  hiding 
finally  behind  the  bed-curtains  while  a 
kneeling  courtier  passed  to  him  his  wig  on 
the  end  of  a stick,  and  at  last  lying  down 
like  any  other  old  dying  sinner,  overwhelmed 
with  the  vanity  of  earthly  things  and  with 
the  vastness  of  eternity. 

Still  more  would  the  dying  moments  of 
the  Grand  Monarque  have  been  embittered 
could  he  have  foreseen  into  what  hands  his 
great  inheritance  was  passing. 

Upon  Louis  XV.  more  than  any  other 
rests  the  responsibility  of  the  crisis  which 
was  approaching. 

A heartless  sybarite,  depraved  in  tastes, 
without  sense  of  responsibility  or  compre- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


81 


hension  of  his  times,  a brutalized  voluptuary 
governed  by  a succession  of  designing  wo- 
men, regardless  of  national  poverty,  indulg- 
ing in  wildest  extravagance, — such  was  the 
man  in  whom  was  vested  the  authority  ren- 
dered so  absolute  by  Richelieu, — such  the 
man  who  opened  up  a pathway  for  the 
storm. 

As  for  the  nobility,  their  degradation  may 
be  imagined  when  it  is  said  there  was  as 
bitter  rivalry  between  titled  and  illustrious 
fathers  to  secure  for  their  daughters  the 
coveted  position  held  by  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour, as  for  the  highest  offices  of  State. 

Could  *the  upper  ranks  fall  lower  than 
this?  Had  not,  the  kingdom  reached  its 
lowest  depths,  where  its  foreign  policy  was 
determined  by  the  amount  of  consideration 
shown  to  Madame  de  Pompadour?  But  this 
woman,  whose  friendship  was  artfully  sought 
by  the  great  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  was 
superseded,  and  the  fresher  charms  of  Ma- 
dame du  Barri  enslaved  the  King.  The 
deposed  favorite  could  not  survive  her  fall, 
and  died  of  a broken  heart.  It  is  said  that 
as  Louis,  looking  from  an  upper  window  of 


82 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


his  palace,  saw  the  coffin  borne  out  in  a 
drenching  rain,  he  smiled  and  said:  “Ah, 

the  Marquise  has  a bad  day  for  her  journey.” 
It  may  be  imagined  that  the  man  who  could 
be  so  pitiless  to  the  woman  he  had  loved 
would  feel  little  pity  for  the  people  whom 
he  had  not  loved,  but  whom  he  knew  only 
as  a remote,  obscure  something,  which  held 
up  the  weight  of  his  glory. 

But  this  “obscure  something”  was  under- 
going strange  transformation.  The  greater 
light  at  the  surface  had  sent  some  glimmer- 
ing rays  down  into  the  mass  below,  which 
began  to  awaken  and  to  think.  Misery, 
hopeless  and  abject,  was  changing  into 
rage  and  thirst  for  vengeance. 

A new  class  had  come  into  existence 
which  was  not  noble,  but  with  highly  trained 
intelligence  it  looked  with  contempt  and 
loathing  upon  the  frivolous,  half -educated 
nobles.  Scorn  was  added  to  the  ferment  of 
human  passions  beneath  the  surface,  and 
when  Voltaire  had  spoken,  and  the  re- 
straints of  religion  were  loosened,  no  living 
hand,  not  that  of  a Richelieu  nor  a Louis 
XIV.,  could  have  averted  the  coming  doom. 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


83 


But — no  one  seems  to  have  suspected  what 
was  approaching. 

A wonderful  literature  had  come  into  ex- 
istence— not  stately  and  classic  as  in  the 
age  preceding, — but  instinct  with  a Lev 
sort  of  life.  The  highest  speculations  which 
can  occupy  the  soul  of  man  were  handled 
with  marvellous  lightness  of  touch  and  pris- 
matic brilliancy  of  expression ; but  all  was 
negation.  None  tried  to  build;  all  to  de- 
molish. The  black-winged  angel  of  Destruc- 
tion was  hovering  over  the  land. 

Then  Rousseau  tossed  his  dreamy  ab- 
stractions into  the  quivering  air,  and  the 
formula,  “ Liberty,  Fraternity,  and  Equal- 
ity,” was  caught  up  by  the  titled  aristocracy 
as  a charming  idyllic  toy,  while  Princes, 
Dukes,  and  Marquises  amused  themselves 
wfith  a dream  of  Arcadian  simplicity,  to  be 
attained  in  some  indefinite  way  in  some 
remote  and  equally  indefinite  future.  It 
was  all  a masquerade.  No  reality,  no  sin- 
cerity, no  convictions,  good  or  evil.  The 
only  thing  that  was  real  was  that  an  over- 
taxed, impoverished  people  was  exasperated 
and — hungry. 


84 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Did  the  King  need  new  supplies  for  his 
unimaginable  luxuries,  they  were  taxed. 
Was  it  necessary  to  have  new  accessions  to 
French  “ glory,  ” in  order  to  allay  popular 
clamor  or  discontent,  they  must  supply  the 
men  to  fight  the  glorious  battles,  and  the 
means  with  which  to  pay  them.  Every 
burden  fell  at  last  upon  this  lowest  stratum 
of  the  State,  the  nobility  and  clergy,  while 
owning  two -thirds  of  the  land,  being  nearly 
exempt  from  taxation.  * 

And  yet  the  King  and  nobility  of  France, 
in  love  with  Rousseau’s  theories,  were  airily 
discussing  the  “rights  of  man.”  Wolves 
and  foxes  coming  together  to  talk  over  the 
sacredness  of  the  rights  of  property— or  the 
occupants  of  murderers’  row  growing  elo- 
quent over  the  sanctity  of  human  life ! How 
incomprehensible  that  among  those  quick- 
witted Frenchmen  there  seems  not  one  to 
have  realized  that  the  logical  sequence  of 
the  formula,  “Liberty,  Fraternity,  and 
Equality,”  must  be,  “Down  with  the  Aris- 
tocrats!” 

And  so  the  surface  which  Richelieu  had 
converted  into  adamant  grew  thinner  and 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


85 


thinner  each  day,  until  King  and  Court 
danced  upon  a mere  gilded  crust,  uncon- 
scious of  the  abysmal  fires  beneath.  Some 
of  those  powdered  heads  fell  into  the  execu- 
tioner’s basket  twenty-five  years  later.  Did 
they  recall  this  time?  Did  Madame  du 
Barri  think  of  it,  did  she  exult  at  her  tri- 
umph over  de  Pompadour,  when  she  was 
dragged  shrieking  and  struggling  to  the 
guillotine? 

And  while  France  was  thus  weaving  her 
future,  what  were  the  other  nations  doing? 
England,  sane,  practical,  with  little  time 
for  abstractions,  and  little  said  about 
“ glory,”  was  importing  turnips,  converting 
agriculture  into  a science,  and  under  the 
instruction  of  exiled  Huguenots,  establish- 
ing marvellous  industries.  In  the  new 
kingdom  of  Prussia,  a half-savage,  half 
inspired  King  had  been  importing  artisans 
and  skill  of  all  sorts,  reclaiming  waste  lands. 
Living  like  a miser,  he  had  indulged  in  but 
one  luxury : an  army,  which  should  be  the 
best  in  the  world.  There  was  no  powder, 
no  patches  at  his  Court ; where  he  thrashed 


86 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


with  his  own  royal  hands  male  and  female 
courtiers,  starved,  imprisoned,  and  cudgelled 
his  son  and  heir  to  his  throne  for  playing  on 
the  violin;  and,  it  is  said,  so  terrified  and 
scarified  his  grenadiers  with  canes  and  cats 
that  not  one  of  them  would  not  have  pre- 
ferred facing  the  enemy  to  meeting  his  en- 
raged sovereign,  had  he  done  wrong. 

Frederick  was  not  a pleasant  barbarian. 
But  there  is  at  least  a ring  of  sincerity  about 
all  this,  which  it  is  refreshing  to  recall  after 
the  tinsel  and  depraved  refinements  of 
France  under  Louis  XV. , and  something  too 
which  gives  promise,  in  spite  of  its  brutality, 
of  a stalwart  future. 

Five  years  before  the  close  of  this  miser- 
able reign,  an  event  occurred  seemingly  of 
small  importance  to  Europe.  A child  was 
born  in  an  obscure  Italian  household.  His 
name  was  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Louis  XV.  was  dead,  and  two  children, 
with  the  light-heartedness  of  youth  and  in- 
experience, stepped  upon  the  throne  which 
wras  to  be  a scaffold — Louis  XVI.,  only 
twenty,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  his  wife, 
nineteen.  He,  amiable,  kind,  full  of  gener- 
ous intentions ; she,  beautiful,  simple,  child- 
like and  lovely.  Instead  of  a debauched  old 
King  with  depraved  surroundings,  here  were 
a Prince  and  Princess  out  of  a fairy-tale. 
The  air  was  filled  with  indefinite  promise  of 
a new  era  for  mankind  to  he  inaugurated 
by  this  amiable  young  king,  whose  kindness 
of  heart  shone  forth  in  his  first  speech, 
“ We  will  have  no  more  loans,  no  credit,  no 
fresh  burdens  on  the  people;”  then,  leaving 
his  ministers  to  devise  ways  of  paying  the 
enormous  salaries  of  officials  out  of  an 
empty  treasury,  and  to  arrange  the  financial 


88 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


details  of  his  benevolent  scheme  of  govern- 
ment, he  proceeded  with  his  gay  and  bril- 
liant young  wife  to  Rheims,  there  to  be 
crowned  with  a magnificence  undreamed  of 
by  Louis  XIV. 

In  the  midst  of  these  rejoicings  over  the 
new  reign,  and  of  speculative  dreams  of 
universal  freedom,  there  was  wafted  across 
the  Atlantic  news  of  a handful  of  patriots 
arrayed  against  the  tyranny  of  the  British 
Crown.  Here  were  the  theories  of  the  new 
philosophy  translated  into  the  reality  of 
actual  experience.  “No  taxation  without 
representation,”  “No  privileged  class,”  “No 
government  without  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned.” Was  this  not  an  embodiment  of 
their  dreams?  Nor  did  it  detract  from  the 
interest  in  the  conflict  that  England — Eng- 
land, the  hated  rival  of  France,  was  defied 
by  an  indignant  people  of  her  own  race. 
There  was  not  a young  noble  in  the  land 
who  would  not  have  rushed  if  he  could  to 
the  defence  of  the  outraged  colonies. 

The  King,  half  doubting,  and  vaguely 
fearing,  was  swept  into  the  current,  and  the 
armies  and  the  courage  of  the  Americans 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


89 


were  splendidly  reinforced  by  generous,  en- 
thusiastic France. 

Why  should  the  simple-hearted  Louis  see 
what  no  one  else  seemed  to  see : that  victory 
or  failure  were  alike  full  of  peril  for  France? 
If  the  colonies  were  conquered,  France  would 
feel  the  vengeance  of  England ; if  they  were 
freed  and  self-governing,  the  principle  of 
Monarchy  had  a staggering  blow. 

In  the  mean  time,  as  the  American  Bevo- 
lution  moved  on  toward  success,  there  was 
talk  in  the  cabin  as  well  as  the  chateau  of 
the  “rights  of  man.”  In  shops  and  barns, 
as  well  as  in  clubs  and  drawing-rooms,  there 
was  a glimmering  of  the  coming  day. 

“ What  is  true  upon  one  continent  is 
true  upon  another,”  say  they.  “If  it  is 
cowardly  to  submit  to  tyranny  in  America, 
what  is  it  in  France  ?”  “ If  Englishmen  may 
revolt  against  oppression,  why  may  not 
Frenchmen?”  “No  government  without 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  eh?  When 
has  our  consent  been  asked,  the  consent  of 
twenty-five  million  people?  Are  we  sheep, 
that  we  have  let  a few  thousands  govern  us 
for  a thousand  years,  without  our  consent?” 


90 


EVOLUTION  OP  AN  EMPIRE. 


Poverty  and  hunger  gave  force  and  ur- 
gency to  these  questions.  The  people  began 
to  clamor  more  boldly  for  the  good  time 
which  had  been  promised  by  the  kind-hearted 
King.  The  murmur  swelled  to  an  ominous 
roar.  Thousands  were  at  his  very  palace 
gates,  telling  him  in  no  unmistakable 
terms  that  they  were  tired  of  smooth  words 
and  fair  promises.  What  they  wanted  was 
a new  constitution  and — bread. 

Poor  Louis ! the  one  could  he  made  with 
pen  and  paper;  but  by  what  miracle  could 
he  produce  the  other?  How  gladly  would 
he  have  given  them  anything.  But  what 
could  he  do?  There  was  not  enough  money 
to  pay  the  salaries  of  his  officials,  nor  for 
his  gay  young  Queen’s  fetes  and  halls!  The 
old  way  would  have  been  to  impose  new 
taxes.  But  how  could  he  tax  a people  cry- 
ing at  his  gates  for  bread?  He  made  more 
promises  which  he  could  not  keep;  yielded, 
one  after  another,  concessions  of  authority 
and  dignity;  then  vacillated,  and  tried  to 
return  over  the  slippery  path,  only  to  be 
dragged  on  again  by  an  irresistible  fate. 

When  Louis  XVI.  convoked  the  States- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


91 


General,  he  made  his  last  concession  to  the 
demands  of  his  subjects. 

That  almost -forgotten  body  had  not  been 
seen  since  Richelieu  effaced  all  the  auxiliary 
functions  of  government.  Nobles,  ecclesi- 
astics, and  tiers  etat  (or  commons)  found 
themselves  face  to  face  once  more.  The 
handsome  contemptuous  nobles,  the  princely 
ecclesiastics  were  unchanged — but  there  was 
a new  expression  in  the  pale  faces  of  the 
commons.  There  was  a look  of  calm  defi- 
ance as  they  met  the  disdainful  gaze  of  the 
aristocrats  across  the  gulf  of  two  centuries. 

The  two  superior  bodies  absolutely  refused 
to  sit  in  the  same  room  with  the  commons. 
They  might  under  the  same  roof,  but  in  the 
same  room — never. 

No  outburst  met  this  insult.  With  mar- 
vellous self-control  and  dignity,  and  with  an 
ominous  calm,  the  commons  constituted 
themselves  into  the  “ National  Assembly.” 

Aristocratic  France  had  committed  its 
concluding  act  of  arrogance  and  folly.  And 
when  poor  distracted  Louis  gave  impotent 
order  for  the  Assembly  to  disperse,  he  com- 
mitted suicide.  Louis  the  man  lived  on  to 


92 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


be  slain  by  the  people  three  years  later,  but 
Louis  the  King  died  at  that  moment. 

When  the  Assembly  defied  his  authority 
and  continued  to  solemnly  act  as  if  he  had 
not  spoken,  the  power  had  passed  to  the 
people.  They  were  sovereign. 

Paris  was  in  wild  excitement ; and  a 
rumor  that  troops  were  marching  upon  the 
Assembly  to  disperse  it  converted  excitement 
into  madness.  The  populace  marched  to- 
ward the  Bastille,  and  in  another  hour  the 
heads  of  the  Governor  and  his  officials  were 
being  carried  on  pikes  through  the  streets  of 
Paris. 

The  horrible  drama  had  opened,  and  events 
developed  with  the  swiftness  of  a falling 
avalanche.  Louis  might  have  followed  his 
fleeing  nobles.  But  always  vacillating,  and 
“letting  I dare  not  wait  upon  I would,” 
the  opportunity  was  lost.  He  and  his  family 
were  prisoners  in  the  “ Temple,  ” while  an 
awful  travesty  upon  a court  of  justice  was 
sending  out  death-warrants  for  his  friends 
and  adherents  faster  than  the  guillotine 
could  devour  them. 

More  and  more  furious  swept  the  torrent, 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


93 


gathering  to  itself  all  that  was  vile  and 
outcast.  Where  were  the  pale-faced,  deter- 
mined patriots  who  sat  in  the  “ National  As- 
sembly”? Some  of  them  riding  with  Dukes 
and  Marquises  to  the  guillotine.  Was  this 
the  equality  they  expected  when  they  cried 
“ Down  with  the  Aristocrats  ” ? 

Did  they  think  they  could  guide  the  whirl- 
wind after  raising  it?  As  well  whisper  to 
the  cyclone  to  level  only  the  tall  trees,  or  to 
the  conflagration  to  burn  only  the.  temples 
and  palaces. 

With  restraining  agencies  removed,  relig- 
ion, government,  King,  all  swept  away,  that 
hideous  brood  born  of  vice,  poverty,  hatred, 
and  despair  came  out  from  dark  hiding- 
places  ; and  what  had  commenced  as  a patri- 
otic revolt  had  become  a wild  orgie  of 
bloodthirsty  demons,  led  by  three  master- 
demons,  Robespierre,  Marat,  and  Danton, 
vying  with  each  other  in  ferocity. 

Then  we  see  that  simple  girl  thinking  by 
one  supreme  act  of  heroism  and  sacrifice, 
like  Joan  of  Arc,  to  save  her  country.  Fool- 
ish child ! Did  she  think  to  slay  the  monster 
devouring  Paris  by  cutting  off  one  of  his 


94 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


heads?  The  death  of  Marat  only  added  to 
the  fury  of  the  tempest ; and  the  falling  of 
Charlotte  Corday’s  head  was  not  more 
noticed  than  the  falling  of  a leaf  in  the 
forest. 

On  the  21st  of  January,  1793,  Louis  XVI. 
embraced  for  the  last  time  his  adored  wife 
and  children ; then,  with  every  possible 
indignity,  was  strapped  to  a plank  and  shoved 
under  the  guillotine. 

The  kindest-hearted,  most  inoffensive  gen- 
tleman in  Europe  had  expiated  the  crimes 
of  his  ancestors. 

A few  months  later,  Marie  Antoinette, 
daughter  of  the  proud  Empress  Maria  The- 
resa, and  child  of  the  Csesars,was  borne  along 
the  same  road.  And  how  bravely  she  met 
her  awful  fate!  We  forget  her  follies,  her 
reckless  grasping  after  pleasures,  in  view  of 
her  horrible  sufferings  and  in  admiration  of 
her  courage  as  she  rides  to  her  death ; sitting 
in  that  hideous  tumbril,  head  erect,  pale, 
proud,  defiant,  as  if  upon  a throne. 

With  the  death  of  the  King  and  Queen 
the  madness  had  reached  its  height,  and  a 
revulsion  of  feeling  set  in.  There  was  a 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


95 


surfeit  of  blood,  and  an  awakening  sense  of 
horror,  which  turned  upon  the  instigators. 
Danton  fell,  and  finally,  when  amid  cries  of 
“Death  to  the  tyrant!”  Robespierre  was 
dragged  wounded  and  shivering  to  the  fate 
he  had  brought  upon  so  many  thousands,  the 
drama  which  had  opened  at  the  Bastille  was 
fittingly  closed. 

The  great  battle  for  human  liberty  had 
been  fought  and  won.  Religious  freedom 
and  political  freedom  were  identical  in  prin- 
ciple. The  right  of  the  human  conscience 
proclaimed  by  Luther  in  1517  had  in  1793 
only  expanded  into  the  large  conception  of 
all  the  inherent  rights  of  the  individual. 

It  had  taken  centuries  for  English  persist- 
ence to  accomplish  what  France,  with  such 
appalling  violence,  had  done  in  as  many 
years.  It  had  been  a furious  outburst  of  pent- 
up  force;  but  the  w^ork  had  been  thorough. 
Not  a germ  of  tyranny  remained.  The  in- 
crustations of  a thousand  years  were  not 
alone  broken,  but  pulverized ; the  privileged 
classes  were  swept  away,  and  their  vast 
estates,  two-thirds  of  the  territory  of  France, 
ready  to  be  distributed  among  the  rightful 


96 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


owners  of  the  soil,  those  who  by  toil  and 
industry  could  win  them.  France  was  as 
new  as  if  she  had  no  history.  There  was 
ample  opportunity  for  her  people  now. 
What  would  they  do  with  it? 


CHAPTER  XII. 


It  is  strange  to  read  that  the  armies  went 
on  fighting  battles  automatically,  even  while 
there  was  no  central  head  to  direct  them. 
While  the  ghastly  scenes  were  enacting  in 
Paris,  and  while  Josephine  de  Beauharnais 
was  at  the  Conciergerie  listening  with 
blanched  face  to  the  call  of  her  husband’s 
name  on  the  death  -roll  for  the  day,  a young 
lieutenant  of  artillery,  only  twenty-four 
years  old,  was  at  Toulon,  winning  his  first 
military  honors.  He  would  have  been 
thought  a strange  prophet  who  had  said 
that  in  less  than  ten  years  the  young  Cor- 
sican lieutenant  would  be  Emperor,  and  the 
prisoner  at  the  Conciergerie  Empress  of  the 
French!  Nor  did  M.  de  Beauharnais,  as  he 
rode  to  execution,  dream  that  forty- five 
years  later  his  grandson  would  over  the 
same  stones  be  borne  to  his  coronation. 


98 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


In  the  anarchy  which  prevailed  after  the 
Revolution,  the  young  hero  of  Toulon  was 
called  upon  to  quell  a riot  in  Paris.  The 
people  realized  they  had  met  a master.  For 
twenty-five  years  from  that  day,  the  history 
of  France,  and  indeed  of  Europe,  was  that 
of  one  man,  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Army,  then  First 
Consul  of  the  Republic,  then  Emperor — the 
steps  in  his  ascent  were  as  rapid  and  as  be- 
wildering as  the  movements  in  one  of  his 
own  campaigns.  France,  groping  about 
helplessly  among  the  wreckage  of  the  past, 
believed  what  she  most  desired  was  liberty 
and  self-government. 

This  Italian,  who  was  a French  citizen 
even  only  by  merest  accident,  knew  her 
better  than  she  did  herself,  and  that  what 
she  really  wanted  was  a fresh  mantle  of 
glory  to  cover  her  humiliation,  and — a 
master. 

Leading  a broken,  unpaid,  half-clothed 
army  into  Italy,  he  electrified  France  and 
all  Europe.  Before  the  world  had  really 
found  out  who  he  was,  and  whence  he  had 
come,  he  had  conquered  all  of  Northern 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


99 


Italy,  part  of  Austria  and  Belgium,  had 
created  a Cisalpine  Republic  out  of  the  frag- 
ments, and  was  making  treaties  and  dictat- 
ing terms  to  kings  and  princes. 

France,  discredited  and  almost  disgraced 
among  the  monarchies  of  Europe,  found 
herself  suddenly  feared  and  glorious.  Napo- 
leon had  captured  the  most  imaginative  and 
military  people  in  Europe.  The  rest  of  the 
way  was  easy.  Prudent,  discreet,  knowing 
when  to  wait,  and  when  to  come  down  like 
an  avalanche,  this  marvellous  man  held 
France  in  his  hands,  and  placed  Europe 
under  his  feet. 

The  people  which  had  exerted  such  super- 
human effort  for  freedom  were  held  by  a 
hand  more  despotic  than  Richelieu’s,  more 
destructive  to  popular  freedom  than  that  of 
Louis  XIV. ; and  the  more  absolute  his  rule, 
the  more  overpowering  his  authority,  the 
better  pleased  they  seemed  to  be. 

But,  was  there  not  equal  opportunity  for 
every  man  in  the  Empire?  Every  soldier’s 
knapsack,  might  it  not  hold  a Marshal’s 
baton f Was  not  the  Emperor  himself  a 
living  illustration  of  what  a man  from  the 


100 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


people  might  become?  And  then  what  did 
it  mean  to  Frenchmen  to  be  suddenly  lifted 
to  dazzling  ascendancy  in  Europe?  Who 
would  not  willingly  serve  a master  who 
could  bring  Hapsburg,  Hohenzollern,  Ko- 
manoff,  Bourbon,  crouching  at  his  feet — 
who  could  tear  down  states,  and  set  them 
up,  and  if  an  extra  throne  were  needed  for 
a retainer,  could  carve  a new  state  from  ter- 
ritory of  friend  and  foe  alike,  and  place  a 
diadem  upon  every  head  in  his  domestic  or 
military  household?  It  was  the  most  stu- 
pendous display  of  personal  power  ever  be- 
held, England  alone  standing  upright  in 
his  presence,  and  in  the  end  accomplishing 
his  ruin. 

When  Austria  with  a reluctant  shudder 
bestowed  her  princess  upon  the  invincible 
parvenu , and  when  France  with  regretful 
pity  saw  the  adored  Josephine  set  aside  for 
that  disdainful  royal  maiden,  Marie  Louise, 
at  that  moment  Napoleon  passed  the  merid- 
ian of  his  greatness. 

It  had  taken  just  fifteen  years  to  make 
the  most  astonishing  and  dazzling  chapter 
in  French  history ; and  then  came  “ Moscow’’ 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


101 


and  “Elba,”  to  be  quickly  followed  by 
“Waterloo”  and  “St.  Helena.”  And  then 
for  France — most  incomprehensible  of  all — a 
return  to  the  Bourbons ! It  had  required  the 
greatest  tragedy  of  modern  times  to  get  rid 
of  them,  and  here  they  were  again,  Louis 
XVIII.  and  Charles  X.,  as  overbearing  and 
as  arrogant  as  if  their  brother’s  head  had 
not  dropped  into  a basket  in  1793.  When 
somebody  said  of  the  Bourbons  “ they  learn 
nothing  and  forget  nothing,”  he  was  inaccu- 
rate. They  had  certainly  forgotten  the 
French  Revolution. 

But  death  removed  the  first,  and  popular 
sentiment  the  second,  of  these  relics  of  an 
obsolete  past.  And  a new  experiment  was 
tried.  This  time  it  was  the  son  of  Philippe 
Egalite , that  wickedest  of  all  the  regicides, 
who  came  smiling  and  bowing  before  the 
people  as  a popular  sovereign,  who  would 
beneficently  rule  under  a liberal  constitu- 
tion. Whatever  his  father  had  been,  Louis 
Philippe  was  far  from  being  a wicked  man. 
Whether  teaching  school  in  Switzerland, 
or  giving  French  lessons  in  America,  or 
wearing  the  kingly  crown  in  France,  he  was 


102 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


the  kindest  hearted,  most  inoffensive  of 
gentlemen. 

When  in  the  pre-revolutionary  days  we 
read  of  France  making  war,  it  means  that 
the  King,  or  his  minister,  with  more  or  less 
deference  to  the  will  of  a few  thousand 
nobles,  did  so.  They  are  the  France  referred 
to.  The  real  France  was  not  consulted  and 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  unless  it  were  to 
fill  the  ranks  with  fathers,  sons,  and  hus- 
bands, and  then  pay  the  taxes  imposed  to 
support  them.  But  times  were  changed. 
Under  a constitutional  monarchy,  the  King 
does  not  govern ; he  reigns.  Louis  Philippe 
was  King  of  the  French, — not  of  France. 
He  was  chosen  by  the  people  as  their  orna- 
mental figurehead.  But  what  if  he  ceased 
to  be  ornamental?  What  was  the  use  of  a 
King  who  in  eighteen  years  had  added  not  a 
single  ray  of  glory  to  the  national  name, 
hut  who  was  using  his  high  position  to  in- 
crease his  enormous  private  fortune,  and 
incessantly  begging  an  impoverished  coun- 
try for  benefits  and  emoluments  for  five 
sons? 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


103 


An  excellent  father,  truly,  though  a short- 
sighted one.  His  power  had  no  roots.  The 
cutting  from  the  Orleans  tree  had  never 
taken  hold  upon  the  soil,  and  toppled  over 
at  the  sound  of  Lamartine’s  voice  proclaim- 
ing a Republic  from  the  balcony  of  the 
“ Hotel  de  Ville.” 

When  invited  to  step  down  from  his  royal 
throne,  he  did  so  on  the  instant.  Never  did 
King  succumb  with  such  alacrity,  and  never 
did  retiring  royalty  look  less  imposing,  than 
when  Louis  Philippe  was  in  hiding  at  Havre 
under  the  name  of  “ William  Smith,”  wait- 
ing for  safe  convoy  to  England,  without 
having  struck  one  blow  in  defence  of  his 
throne. 

But  three  terrible  words  had  floated  into 
the  open  windows  of  the  Tuileries.  With 
the  echoes  of  1792  still  sounding  in  his  ears, 
“Liberty,”  “Fraternity,”  and  “Equality,” 
shouted  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  had  not  a 
pleasant  sound ! 

Republicanism  was  an  abiding  sentiment 
in  France,  even  while  two  dull  Bourbon 
Kings  were  stupidly  trying  to  turn  back 


104 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


the  hands  on  the  dial  of  time,  and  while  an 
Orleans,  with  more  supple  neck,  was  posing 
as  a popular  sovereign.  During  all  this  tire- 
some interlude,  the  real  fact  was  developing. 
A Republican  sentiment  which  had  existed 
vaguely  in  the  air  was  materializing,  con- 
solidating, into  a more  and  more  tangible 
reality  in  the  minds  of  thinking  men  and 
patriots. 

The  ablest  men  in  the  country  stood  with 
plans  matured,  ready  to  meet  this  crisis.  A 
Republic  was  proclaimed ; M.  de  Lamartine, 
Ledru-Rollin,  General  Cavaignac,  M.  Ras- 
pail,  and  Louis  Napoleon  were  rival  candi- 
dates for  the  office  of  President. 

The  nephew  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  and 
son  of  Hortense,  was  only  known  as  the 
perpetrator  of  two  very  absurd  attempts 
to  overthrow  the  monarchy  under  Louis 
Philippe'.  But  since  the  remains  of  the 
great  Emperor  had  been  returned  to  France 
by  England,  and  the  splendors  of  the  past 
placed  in  striking  contrast  with  a dull,  lustre- 
less present,  there  had  been  a revival  of  Na- 
poleonic memories  and  enthusiasm.  Here 
was  an  opportunity  to  unite  two  powerful 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


105 


sentiments  in  one  man — a Napoleon  at  the 
head  of  Republican  France  would  express 
the  glory  of  the  past  and  the  hope  of  the 
future. 

The  magic  of  the  name  was  irresistible. 
Louis  Napoleon  was  elected  President  of  the 
second  Republic,  and  history  prepared  to  re- 
peat itself.  What  sort  of  a ruler  would  he 
be — this  dark,  mysterious,  unmagnetic  man? 
Even  should  he  not  turn  out  well,  no  great 
harm  could  be  done.  It  was  only  for  four 
years.  His  hand  had  not  the  steely  fineness 
of  touch  of  his  great  uncle’s,  but  it  was 
strong,  and  guided,  they  soon  found,  by  a 
subtle  intelligence. 

The  overthrow  of  Monarchy  in  France 
had  set  fire  to  Republicanism  in  Europe, 
Kossuth  with  transcendent  eloquence  lead- 
ing a revolution  in  Hungary,  and  Garibaldi 
and  Mazzini  with  pen  and  sword  in  Italy. 
Europe  was  in  a blaze  of  revolt.  The  first 
great  military  exploit  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte had  been  in  Italy,  and  so  was  his 
nephew’s,  but  with  this  difference — the  ob- 
ject of  the  one  was  to  build  up  Republics  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  and  of  the  other  to 


106 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


pull  them  down.  Garibaldi  and  Mazzini 
were  driven  out  of  Italy  by  French  bayonets, 
which  also  propped  up  the  pontifical  throne 
for  the  fugitive  Pope. 

The  Assembly  soon  realized  that  in  this 
Prince- President  it  had  no  automaton  to 
deal  with.  A deep  antagonism  grew,  and 
the  cunningly  devised  issue  could  not  fail  to 
secure  popular  support  to  Louis  Napoleon. 
When  an  Assembly  is  at  war  with  the  Pres- 
ident because  it  desires  to  restrict  the  suf- 
frage, and  he  to  make  it  universal,  can 
any  one  doubt  the  result?  He  was  safe  in 
appealing  to  the  people  on  such  an  issue,  and 
sure  of  being  sustained  in  his  Proclamation 
dissolving  the  Assembly.  He  was  gathering 
the  reins  into  his  hands  with  the  astute  cour- 
age of  his  uncle.  Moving  on  almost  identi- 
cal lines  with  his  great  original,  the  nephew 
set  his  face  toward  the  same  goal. 

The  French  people  must  have  realized  they 
were  being  betrayed.  They  must  have  seen 
that  this  ambitious  plotter  was  slipping  the 
old  fetters  of  arbitrary  power  into  position. 
But,  under  the  powerful  spell  of  the  Napole- 
onic name,  lulled  to  tranquillity  by  the  gift 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


107 


of  suffrage,  and  fascinated  by  the  growing 
splendors  of  an  ingenious  reproduction  of 
the  most  brilliant  chapter  in  French  history, 
they  were  unresistingly  drawn  into  the  Im- 
perial net. 

France  was  for  the  second  time  an  Em- 
pire, and  Napoleon  III.  was  Emperor  of  the 
French. 

His  Mephistophelian  face  did  not  look  as 
classic  under  the  laurel  wreath  as  had  his 
uncle^’s,  nor  had  his  work  the  blinding  splen- 
dor nor  the  fineness  of  texture  of  his  great 
model.  But  then,  an  imitation  never  has. 
It  was  a marble  masterpiece,  done  in  plas- 
ter ! But  what  a clever  reproduction  it  was ! 
And  how,  by  sheer  audacity,  it  compelled 
recognition  and  homage,  and  at  last  even 
adulation  in  Europe! — and  what  a clever 
stroke  it  was,  for  this  heavy,  unsympathetic 
man  to  bring  up  to  his  throne  from  the  peo- 
ple a radiant  Empress,  who  would  capture 
romantic  and  aesthetic  France! 

The  distance  was  great  from  cheap  lodg- 
ings in  New  York  to  a seat  upon  the  Im- 
perial throne  of  France ; but  human  ambition 
is  not  easily  satisfied.  A Pelion  always 


108 


EVOLUTION  OF  A*N  EMPIRE. 


rises  beyond  an  Ossa.  It  was  not  enough  to 
feel  that  he  had  re-established  the  prosperity 
and  prestige  of  France,  that  fresh  glory  had 
been  added  to  the  Napoleonic  name.  Was 
there  not  after  all  a certain  irritating  reserve 
in  the  homage  paid  him,  was  there  not  a 
touch  of  condescension  in  the  friendship  of 
his  royal  neighbors?  And  had  he  not  always 
a Mordecai  at  his  gate — while  the  “ Faubourg 
St.  Germain ” stood  aloof  and  disdainful, 
smiling  at  his  brand-new  aristocracy? 

War  is  the  thing  to  give  solidity  to  em- 
pire and  to  reputation ! Neither  France  nor 
Europe  can  withstand  the  magic  of  military 
renown.  And  so,  upon  a quickly  improvised 
pretext,  the  French  Emperor  started,  amid 
the  booming  of  cannon  and  the  wild  ac- 
clamations of  a delighted  people,  upon  his 
errand  of  conquest.  The  insolent  Germans 
were  to  be  chastised;  and,  incidentally, 
Europe  was  to  be  made  to  tremble ! 

In  a few  months  the  bubble  was  pricked. 
The  glittering  French  army  proved  to  be  a 
thing  of  tinsel  and  fustian.  No  reality,  no 
power  to  stand  before  the  solid  German 
battalions,  it  melted  like  hoar-frost.  Napo- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


109 


leon  III.  was  prisoner  of  war  at  Sedan,  and 
King  William,  Unser  Fritz,  and  Von  Moltke 
were  at  Versailles. 

Moved  by  his  colossal  misfortunes,  and 
perhaps  partly  in  displeasure  at  having  a 
French  Republic  once  more  at  her  door,  Eng- 
land offered  asylum  to  the  deposed  Emperor. 
There,  from  the  seclusion  of  “ Chiselhurst,  ” 
he  and  his  still  beautiful  Eugenie  watched 
the  Republic  weathering  the  first  days  of 
storm  and  stress,  and  coming  out  at  last 
stable  and  triumphant. 

The  weary  exile  felt  that  not  in  his  day 
would  the  reaction  come.  But  his  son 
would  yet  wear  the  Imperial  crown  which 
was  his  birthright.  Futile  dream ! The 
boy  was  destined  to  cruel  fate — to  be  slain 
by  Zulu  assegai,  while  fighting  the  battles 
of  England, — England,  the  author  of  Water- 
loo. Strange  ending  for  the  heir  to  the  name 
and  glory  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

But  the  reaction  Louis  Napoleon  so  confi- 
dently hoped  for  did  not  come.  With  mili- 
tary pride  humbled  in  the  dust,  national 
pride  wounded  by  the  loss  of  two  provinces, 
loaded  down  with  an  immense  war  indem- 


110 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


nity,  the  people  set  about  the  task  of  rehabil- 
itation ; in  an  incredibly  short  time,  the  gall- 
ing debt  was  paid,  financial  prosperity  and 
political  strength  restored,  and  with  mili- 
tary organization  second  to  none  in  Europe, 
France,  with  revengeful  eyes  fastened  on 
Germany,  waits  for  the  day  of  reckoning. 

For  twenty-four  years  the  Republic  has 
existed . Communistic  fires  always  smoulder- 
ing have  again  and  again  burst  forth — 
demagogues,  fanatics,  and  those  creatures 
for  whom  there  is  no  place  in  organized 
society,  whose  element  is  chaos,  standing 
ready  to  fan  the  fires  of  revolt ; while  Orlean- 
ist,  Bonapartist,  Bourbon,  are  ever  on  the 
alert,  watching  for  opportunity  to  slip  in 
through  the  open  door  of  Revolution. 

England  in  conscious  superiority  smiles  at 
a nation  which  has  had  seven  political  revo- 
lutions in  a hundred  years.  Republic,  then 
Empire,  then  a return  to  the  Bourbons,  then 
Constitutional  Monarchy  under  Louis  Phi- 
lippe, then  Republic,  followed  by  Empire 
again,  and  now  for  the  third  time  a Republic ! 

But  France,  complex,  mobile,  changeful 
as  the  sea,  in  riotous  enjoyment  of  her  new- 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


Ill 


found  liberties,  casts  off  a form  of  govern- 
ment as  she  would  an  ill-fitting  garment. 
She  knows  the  value  of  tranquillity — she 
had  it  for  one  thousand  years ! The  people , 
which  have  only  breathed  the  upper  air  for  a 
a century — the  people,  who  were  stifled  under 
feudalism,  stamped  upon  by  Valois  Kings, 
riveted  down  by  Richelieu,  then  prodded, 
outraged,  and  starved  by  Bourbons,  have  be- 
come a great  nation.  Many-sided,  resource- 
ful, gifted,  it  matters  not  whether  they  have 
called  the  head  of  their  government  Con- 
sul, Emperor,  King,  or  President.  They  are 
a race  of  freemen,  who  can  never  again  be 
enslaved  by  tyrannous  system. 

It  was  a bright  day  for  France  when  that 
ambitious  young  Emperor  of  Germany  sent 
his  great  Chancellor  into  retirement;  and 
another  bright  day  when,  taking  offence  at 
scant  courtesy  at  the  hands  of  the  Czar,  he 
left  ajar  the  back  door  to  his  dominions.  An 
alliance  between  despotic  Russia  thirsting 
for  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  Re- 
publican France  thirsting  for  revenge,  is  the 
darkest  cloud  on  the  German  horizon  to-day. 
It  is  only  a matter  of  months  or  of  years 


112 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


when  France  will  be  at  the  throat  of  Ger- 
many demanding  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  The 
French  army  is  not  the  one  which  faced 
Von  Moltke  in  1871;  and  when  France 
knocks  at  her  front  door,  Germany  will  have 
all  she  can  attend  to,  without  hearing  Rus- 
sian batteries'  thundering  at  her  rear.  A 
dramatic  reconciliation  with  the  old  Chan- 
cellor is  interesting,  but  it  will  not  undo  the 
work  of  the  last  four  years. 

There  is  no  longer  thought  of  conflict  be- 
tween any  two  nations  of  Europe.  The  next 
war  is  to  be  one  of  tremendous  combinations. 
National  alliances  are  shifting  and  uncer- 
tain. But  at  the  time  this  is  written  (1894) 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy  are  drawn  to- 
gether in  one  hostile  camp,  while  France  and 
Russia,  in  loving  embrace,  stand  in  the  ther ; 
and  England,  aloof  and  suspicious,  holds 
herself  ready  to  hurl  her  weight  against 
whichever  one  obstructs  her  path  to  India. 

There  is  something  in  the  air  which  makes 
one  think  the  name  Napoleon  is  still  a thing 
to  conjure  with.  But  whatever  the  future 
may  hold  for  France,  no  American  can  be 
indifferent  to  the  fate  of  a nation  to  whom 


EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE. 


113 


we  owe  so  much.  Nor  can  we  ever  forget 
that  in  the  hour  of  our  direst  extremity,  and 
regardless  of  cost  to  herself,  she  helped  us  to 
establish  our  liberties,  and  to  take  our  place 
among  the  great  nations  of  the  earth. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  AN  EMPIRE 

A Brief  Historical  Sketch  of  Germany, 


By  MARY  PARMELE, 

Author  of  “Who?  When?  and  What?” 

William  Beverley  Harison,  59  Fifth  Avenue. 
Price,  cloth,  gilt,  $1.00. 


Mrs.  Parmele,  whose  previous  work  “ Who  ? When  ? 
and  What  ? ” has  proved  such  a useful  reference  chart  to 
Students  of  History,  Literature  and  Art,  has  begun  a series 
of  outline  histories  of  which  this  is  the  first.  A few  vivid 
strokes  portray  Germany  from  the  Aryan  migrations,  to 
William  II. 

There  is  not  a superfluous  line  in  the  picture,  yet  the 
salient  points  are  not  alone  there,  but  developed  to  a 
brilliant  intensity. 

The  book  may  be  read  in  two  hours — but  we  venture 
to  say  that  the  reader  or  student  will  have  learned  from 
its  brief  pages  more  than  from  many  imposing  volumes, 
wherein  a superfluity  of  details  hopelessly  obscures  the 
grand  lines  in  the  march  of  events. 

If  the  student  can  first  grasp  these  lines  in  their 
simplicity,  can  first  see  the  tree  in  outline  as  it  were,  it 
will  be  an  easy  task  later  to  clothe  it  with  leaves  and 
fruitage. 

The  author  has,  we  think,  done  wisely  in  offering  a 
single  continuous  thread  of  events  which  intelligibly 
connects  the  present  with  the  past,  and  this  is  done  in 
such  a charming  way  that  the  book  reads  like  a romance. 


WHO?  WHEN?  AND  WHAT? 

BIRD’S-EYE  VIEW  OF  CIVILIZATION, 

1 250  TO  1 850. 

Authors,  Inventors,  Discoverers,  Artists 
and  Musicians. 

SHORTEST  ROAD  YET  OPENED  TO 
KNOWLEDGE. 


What  People  Say  About  It. 

“ It  must  prove  very  valuable  to  students  of  history  as  well  as  to  others.” 
Jos.  Milner  Coit,  President  St.  Paul's  School,  Concord,  N.  H. 

“The  new  Historical  Chart,  ‘Who?  When?  and  What?’  fills  an  empty  place 
on  our  reading  tables.  Teachers  who  have  made  use  of  it  like  it  much.” 
Susan  Fenimore  Cooper,  Cooperstown,  N.  Y. 

“ Most  interesting  and  ingenious  work.”  Phillips  Brooks,  Boston,  Mass. 

“The  work  is  herculean,  and  must  be  very  valuable,  I am  certain.” 
Judge  Charles  A.  Peabody,  New  York. 

“Iam  greatly  impressed  with  the  amount  of  labor  and  learning  repre- 
sented by  it,  and  with  its  utility.”  James  C.  Carter,  New  York. 

“I  am  amazed  at  tbe  amount  of  valuable  information  condensed  into  so 
compact  and  accessible  a form.  ...  It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
scholar  as  well  as  others  who  have  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  search 
out  for  themselves.”  Rev.  George  D.  Johnson  , Archdeacon  of  Richmond. 

“ The  idea  is  capital;  is  faithfully  carried  out  with  care,  industry  and  fine 
discrimination.  It  cannot  fail  to  flood  this  long  stretch  of  years  with  light 
and  intelligence,  especially  if  accompanied  by  wise  collateral  reading.” 
Rev.  George  D.  Rider,  New  York. 

“ One  of  the  most  skilfully  devised  aids  for  the  contemporary  study  of 
notable  characters  and  events  of  the  last  six  centuries  is  the  little  pamphlet, 
and  What?  ’ The  chart  which  accompanies  the  index  represents  in  vertical 
columns  the  centuries  and  decades  from  1250  to  1850;  each  horizontal  line 
represents  the  life  of  the  person  whose  name  it  bears  and  a reference  to  the 
index  tells  who  he  was,  when  he  lived,  and  what  he  did.  Along  the  margin 
at  the  top  of  the  chart  are  found  conspicuous  discoveries  and  events.  The 
special  excellence  of  the  design  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  places  a great  writer, 
artist  or  other  famous  personage  in  his  proper  time,  groups  his  contempo- 
raries about  him,  brings  out  the  state  of  arts,  philosophy,  literature  at  the 
moment,  and,  in  a word,  recalls  his  environment  in  all  its  essential  features. 
The  char  trepresents  an  immense  amount  of  work,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  of 
the  utmost  use  to  readers  and  students  in  all  departments.”  Christian 
Union , New  York. 

“We  consider  it  a. most  valuable  informant  for  literary  people,  and,  in 
fact,  would  willingly  pay  $5.00  for  it  had  that  been  the  price.”  Weekly 
Journalist , Boston,  Mass. 


“ It  brings  before  the  eye  at  a single  glance  more  of  this  last  phase  of  the 
world’s  history  than  can  be  found  elsewhere,  and  demonstrates  the  grandeur 
of  the  problem,  while  giving  vividness  to  the  incidents  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed.” A.  J.  Willard,  Late  Chief  Justice  of  South  Carolina. 

“ A valuable  addition  to  our  Books  of  Reference,  and  one  which  must  be 
appreciated  by  teachers  and  scholars.  Sincerely  thy  friend,  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,” Newbury  port,  Mass. 

“ Remarkable  for  care,  compactness  and  breadth.  It  should  have  a per- 
manent place  in  our  literature/’  Bishop  J.  H.  Hurst,  American  Universitv, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

“ A very  valuable  adjunct  in  schools  and  colleges  and  to  those  engaged  in 
literary  and  historical  studies.  I cordially  commend  the  work  as  most  help- 
ful in  purpose,  unique  in  plan,  and  invaluable  to  both  teacher  and  student.” 
Prof.  Mary  L.  Dickinson,  New  York. 

“ A mine  of  information  and  marvel  of  ingenuity,  learning  and  clear  pres- 
entation.” Prof.  W.  McD.  Halsey,  Collegiate  School,  West  40th  Street, 
New  York. 

“ The  groupings  and  selections  are  excellent,  and  as  a guide  or  mnemotech- 
nic  in  the  hands  of  the  student  or  busy  reader,  must  serve  a most  useful  office. 
A little  ‘ primer  ’ accompanying,  supplies  the  necessary  explanatory  mem- 
oranda. Both  are  kept  in  a durable  envelope,  convenient,  small  and  easily 
consulted.  It  may  be  carried  in  the  pocket,  and  should  be  found  on  the  desk 
or  table  of  all  interested.”  Living  Church , Chicago. 


“ Every  now  and  then  in  a man’s  reading,  he  comes  upon  names,  the  sig- 
nificance of  which  he  feels  he  ought  to  know,  but  into  whose  history,  as 
given  in  an  encyclopaedia,  he  has  not  the  time  to  look.  It  is  the  needs  of 
just  such  a man  that  this  chart  and  its  accompanying  index,  under  the 
attractive  title  of  ’Who?  When?  and  What?’  were' designed  to  meet.  By 
referring  to  the  index,  you  find  the  date  of  any  famous  man  and  what  he  did 
to  astonish  the  world.  Then,  by  turning  to  tlie  chart  and  finding  the  man’s 
name,  you  learn  who  were  his  contemporaries,  who  were  his  predecessors 
and  who  his  followers,  what  ideas  were  then  in  the  air  in  religion,  in  liter- 
ature, and  in  philosophy,  and  what  development  had  been  attained  by  the 
different  arts  and  sciences.  The  importance  of  such  a synchronism  or  tab- 
ular arrangement  of  all  the  prominent  men  and  events  of  these  six  centuries 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  The  fundamental  thing  to  fix  in  your  mind 
about  any  famous  man  is  his  place  in  history.  You  can  only  understand 
him  by  grasping  his  relation  to  his  predecessors  and  successors,  and  to  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  In  this  way  you  learn  the  part  he  played  in  helping 
on  the  progress  of  the  world,  and  also  you  can  recall  him  by  remembering 
his  position  among  noted  men  in  his  particular  branch  of  knowledge.  The 
three  divisions  of  the  chart  into  literature,  philosophy,  and  science  in  the 
first  place,  secondly,  painting  and  sculpture,  etc.,  and  finally  music,  enables 
the  student  to  see  the  order  of  the  great  men  in  their  social  spheres.  Mozart 
among  the  musicians  and  Wordsworth  among  the  poets,  but  at  the  same 
time  does  not  prevent  him  from  learning  what  musicians  and  what  poets 
were  contemporaneous.  Every  man  of  education  or  who  desires  to  be 
informed  about  the  leaders  in  the  world’s  progress,  will  welcome  a'cliart  so 
complete,  and  one  whose  method  is  so  clear  and  so  easy  of  comprehension. 
‘ Who?  When?  and  What?  ’ will  be  a boon  to  many  a man  who  is  hurried  and 
o’erworked  by  his  daily  cares.”  The  Churchman , New  York. 


illative  Tree^ 

A Study  for  School 
and  Home. 

By  L.  W.  RUSSELL, 

Providence,  R.l. 


Kllmteafed* 

Fric©  30*  ets. 


There  is  a growing 
^demand  for  easily  under- 
stood and  practical  mat- 
ter about  our  native 
trees.  This  little  work 
is  designed  to  supply  this  demand.  Works  upon 
general  botany  do  not  supply  the  needs  of  those  who 
wish,  without  difficult  study,  to  come  to  a friendly 
acquaintance  with  the  forest  and  wayside  trees  which 
they  daily  meet. 

The  author  has  written  about  trees  as  he  has  seen 
them,  in  walks  and  rambles,  in  town  and  country.  It 
is  wholly  unlike  anything  that  has  ever  before  been 
published  on  this  subject. 


WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON, 

3 East  14th  Street,  New  York  City. 


BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

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Teachers  Help  Manual  Series. 

PAPER  25  cts-  each,  or  5 for  $100. 

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4.  Easy  Problems  for  Young  Thinkers.— Eaton. 

5.  Catch  Questions  in  Arithmetic.— Capel. 

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BOOKS  SENT  TO  ANT  ADDRESS  BY  MAIL, 
POSTPAID. 

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3 Bast  ®tr©©t.  Hew  'srerlfe. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  OF 

New  Helps  for  Teachers . 


OR 

The  Beginning  of 
School  Life. 

By  MARY  A.  SPEAR, 

Principal  of  tke  Model 
School , State  Normal 
School,  West  Chester , 
Pa. 

With  over  Three  Hundred  Drawings. 

By  D.  R.  Augsburg. 

Boards,  Price,  50  cents.l^  — 

Miss  Spear  has  no  superior  in  this  country  as  a teacher  of  the  art 
of  teaching  children  how  to  begin  school  life,  and  D.  R.  Augsburg 
is  a genius  in  the  art  of  helping  teachers  to  draw  easily  everyday 
objects  on  the  blackboard. 

A good  foundation  is  nowhere  more  needed  than  in  the  teaching  of 
reading  and  in  learning  to  read.  Many  a primary  teacher  who  means 
well  utterly  fails  because  she  does  not  understand  the  nature  or 
amount  of  preparatory  work  necessary  before  a child  is  able  to  read 
from  a book  with  ease  and  with  a natural  expression.  With  this 
book  in  hand  no  teacher  need  fail  in  teaching  reading  with  eminent 
success,  whatever  book  she  uses.  with  the  pupils.  The  author 
begins  at  the  foundation  and  tells  just  what  preparation  should  be 
made  at  home;  following  this  with  the  preparation  at  school. 

WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON 


3 East  14  Street, 


NEW  YORK 


HOME  STUDY  IN  NOTRE. 


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Filling  up  the  blank  pages  of  this  attractive 
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read  about  all  animals. 

This  volume  will  be  followed  by  others  covering 
the  entire  Animal  Kingdom. 


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Is  made  of  an  extra  heavy  strong  manila  paper, 
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Being  in  one  piece,  it  has  no  joints  on  back  or 
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It  will  remain  in  place  even  when  unsealed,  and 
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For  absolute  protection — simplicity  of  design — 
durability  and  all  necessary  qualifications  for  a per- 
fect cover,  the  “ One  Piece  ” cover  is  unequaled. 

Mr.  Boyd,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sion of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  says  of  these  cov- 
ers that  they  are  “ the  only  practical  covers  he  has 
ever  seen.  ” 

No.  1.  Fits  all  ordinary  sizes.  Price,  per 


100 $1  50 

No.  2.  Extra  large  size  for  bound  magazines, 

etc.  Price,  per  100 2 50 

No.  3.  Extra  large  size  for  large  geographies, 

Price,  per  100 3 50 


Sent  postpaid  upon  receipt  of  price  to  all  paiis 
United  States  or  Canada. 

Sample  sent  upon  receipt  of  2c.  stamp. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers. 


Dictionary  Holders. 

By  special  arrangement  I am  able  to  offer 
these  all  metal  holders  (the  Harvard) 
to  schools,  at  club  rates,  i.  e.  33/ % 

discount. 


Chart  Alphabet  of  . . 

. . Common  Objects. 

Mounted  on  Rollers,  Size  29x39  Inches. 

PRICE,  $1.50  NET. 

A chart  printed  in  bright  colors,  with 
the  alphabet  illustrated  with  numerous 
objects,  attractive  to  children. 


French  Songs  and  Games 

WITH  MUSIC. 

A series  of  interesting  and  entertain- 
ing songs  and  games,  in  French,  for 
children. 


PRICE,  PER  SET,  50  CENTS. 


ISAAC  PITMAN'S  SHORTHAND 

TIE  ORIGINAL  STANDARD  SYSTEM. 


PHONOGRAPHIC  INSTRUCTION 
BOOKS. 

The  Phonographic  Teacher;  or,  First  Book 

in  Shorthand $ 15 

1,500,000  copies  sold. 

Key  to  Phonographic  Teacher 15 

A Manual  of  Phonography 40 

650th  thousand. 

Key  to  Exercises  in  the  “Manual” 15 

“Teacher”  and  “ Manual,”  in  one  vol., 

roan,  gilt 75 

The  Phonographic  Reporter,  or  Repor- 
ter’s Companion 60 

The  Phonographic  Phrase  Book 30 

The  Phonographic  Dictionary,  containing 

the  Shorthand  forms  for  60.000  words 1.25 

“Phonography  ’ the  “Manual,”  “Re- 
porter,” and  “Phrase  Book,”  in  1 vol., 

cloth N. 1.50 

Shorthand  Copy  Books,  containing  the 
exercises  in  the  “ Teacher,”  set  as  Short- 
hand copies,  in  3 books,  price  per  set 30 

Isaac  Pitman’s  Patent  Elastic  Back  Note 
Book,  opens  flat  on  desk,  200  pages,  suita- 
ble for  pen  or  pencil 20 

“ An  admirable  note  book  for  all  kinds  of  school 
work.  ” 

Any  of  the  above  works  sent  post-paid  upon  receipt 
of  price.  Special  terms  to  schools. 


Vertical  Writing 

or, 

Jacksonian  System. 



Vertical  writing  is  acknowledged  to  be 
the  most  easily  acquired,  most  natural,  eco- 
nomical, legible,  rapid,  and  is  now  required 
in  most  of  our  public  offices. 

Jackson’s  Theory  and  Practice, 

$1.25  POSTPAID. 

Contains  a full  description  and  direc- 
tions to  enable  any  one  to  teach  or  acquire 
this  style  of  writing. 


Jackson’s  Vertical  Writing  Copy  Books,  - - 10c.  each 

(10  Numbers.) 

Harison’s  Vertical  Writing  Pads  - 10c.  “ 

(8  Numbers.) 

Vertical  vs.  Sloping  Writing  by  Jackson,  - 10c.  “ 


ANY  OF  ABOVE. SENT  UPON  RECEIPT  OF  PRICE. 


FOREIGNER’S 

Manual  of  English. 


BY 

H.  F.  CLARKE. 


8yo,  Cloth.  Introduction  Price,  75  Cents. 


IT  is  a generally  conceded  fact  that  any  language  may 
be  taught  more  successfully  by  employing  that  lan- 
guage only. 

Gouin  has  demonstrated  that  the  most  direct  method 
is  that  associating  the  object  or  action  with  the  spoken 
words,  thus  giving  a mind  picture  and  leading  to  thought 
in  the  language  to  be  acquired ; also  he  lays  great  stress 
upon  the  systematic  building  up  of  a vocabulary  by  fre- 
quent repetition  and  mse  of  the  simple  words  and  phrases, 
practically  as  a child  first  learns  to  talk. 

For  the  purpose  of  teaching  English  to  foreigners, 
especially  where  classes  may  be  composed  of  several  nation- 
alities, as  in  our  large  city  public,  schools,  the  want  of  a 
practical  method  capable  of  being  used  by  an  English 
teacher  has  long  been  felt.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  obtain 
teachers  with  sufficient  command  of  the  several  languages, 
as  well  as  English,  to  prepare  the  children  of  our  foreign  pop- 
ulation so  that  they  may  take  their  place  in  the  regular 
classes  ; in  recognition  of  this  fact  the  Foreigner’s  Manual 
has  been  prepared. 


It  is  not  claimed  that  the  book  is  perfect,  but  during  its 
preparation  and  before  publication  it  has  been  used  success- 
fully for  classes  composed  of  scholars  most  difficult  to 
reach  (i.  e. , those  unfamiliar  with  the  spoken  and  written 
forms,  the  Chinese,  Russians,  etc.),  and  with  great  success. 
The  best  points  of  the  Gouin  and  other  systems  have  been 
carefully  studied  and  the  theories  put  in  shape  for  practice. 

English,  and  English  only,  is  used  throughout,  and  the 
vocabularies  and  lessons  so  prepared  as  to  make  conversation 
possible  at  the  very  beginning.  This,  simple  though  it  be, 
tends  to  interest  the  pupil  and  fix  the  knowledge  in  his 
mind. 

The  words  are  presented  in  the  script  or  written  form 
first,  and,  that  the  pupils  may  refer  to  any  words  acquired, 
without  use  of  a dictionary,  a space  is  left  for  them  to 
insert  the  exact  equivalent  of  the  thought  conveyed  in 
their  own  language.  Thus,  when  a lesson  is  learned  and 
the  equivalents  of  the  words  written  in  in  the  pupil’s 
language,  he  has  for  reference  something  much  better  than 
a dictionary. 

Sample  copies  will  be  mailed  upon  receipt  of  the  intro- 
duction price  (75  cents). 


WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON, 

59  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


BOSTON  SCHOOL  SUPPLY  CO.,  ALBERT,  SCOTT  & CO., 

BOSTON.  CHICAGO. 


EDUCATIONAL  BOOKS 


AND  SUPPLIES  OF  ALL  KINDS. 


I FURNISH  the  publications  of  all  publishers,  American  and 
foreign,  at  the  wholesale  or  publishers’  prices.  Schools  or 
Boards  of  Education  can  obtain  their  supplies  at  one  place 
and  with  but  one  transportation  charge  in  place  of  several,  as  is 
necessary  when  purchasing  of  the  several  publishers. 

Keeping  myself  informed  as  to  the  relative  educational  value  of 
the  different  books  and  devices,  my  correspondents  are  saved  much 
time  and  trouble  in  the  selection  of  text-books,  and  are  also  advised 
when  any  new  methods  appear.  My  information  is  based  upon  the 
opinions  of  the  leading  educators  with  whom  I keep  myself  in  touch, 
and  upon  the  hints  and  points  given  me  by  the  many  professors  with 
whom  I am  brought  in  contact.  The  .fact  that  I furnish  dealers  and 
schools  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  in  this  way  obtain  a market 
for  school  books  of  all  kinds  and  in  all  conditions,  enables  me,  often- 
times, to  make  more  advantageous  introduction  allowance  for  books 
displaced,  than  is  made  by  the  publishers  themselves : it  is  therefore 
possible  for  me  to  attend  to  all  of  the  wants  of  schools  or  school  boards. 
Books  obtained  by  me  as  a result  of  displacements  are  sold  at  very 
low  prices,  and  are  eagerly  sought  by  dealers  and  for  night  schools, 
or  wherever  economy  is  necessary. 

Correspondence  in  reference  to  any  educational  matter  solicited. 
Teachers  with  new  devices  or  new  ideas  on  educational  topics 
will  have  my  careful  attention  if  they  care  to  submit  them.  As  a 
student  in  this  broad  field  I am  more  than  willing  to  learn  of  anything 
new. 


WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON, 

59  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


French  Songs  and  Games, 

PER  SET,  50  CENTS. 

Verbal  Quartettes, 

PER  SET,  50  CENTS. 


By  ALICE  WERNER  STEINBRECHER . 


The  aim  of  the  FRENCH  SONGS  AND  GAMES  is  to 
amuse  and  at  the  same  time  familiarize  pupils  with 
the  niceties  of  French  pronunciation.  The  songs 
and  many  of  the  games  are  with  music  and 
are  a careful  selection  from  the  most 
popular  in  use  in  Paris. 

“VERBAL  QUARTETTES”  is  a game  to  be  played  in 
French,  German,  or  English,  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  conversation  in  either  language; 
it  is  similar  to  the  game  of 
‘ ‘ Authors.  ’’ 


“DIVIDED  PROVERBS.” 

By  the  same  author.  Per  set,  50  cents.  French,  Spanish, 
and  English  game.  To  be  played  in  a similar 
way  to  Verbal  Quartettes. 

Any  of  above  mailed  upon  receipt  of  price. 

WILLIAM  BEVERLEY  HARISON, 

59  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


